Chinese Upgrading A Hammerhead-Shaped Port With A Pakistan-China Joint Exercise

BANGKOK, Thailand -- China's joint, three-week, anti-terrorism exercise in Pakistan on November 20-December 11 was to help defend Beijing's $70 billion Belt and Road Initiative projects against deadly anti-Chinese insurgents in Baluchistan province.

Under threat is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which includes upgrading Pakistan's north-south roads and Karakoram Highway, to link Kashgar in China's landlocked Xinjiang province directly to Pakistan's hammerhead-shaped peninsula and port of Gwadar in Baluchistan on the Arabian Sea, close to the Persian Gulf.

The CPEC is also expanding Gwadar's deep-water port, so large Chinese vessels will have a much shorter route for shipping petroleum from the Persian Gulf to oil-hungry China.

Currently, oil-laden ships bound for China depart the Middle East through the Persian Gulf into the Arabian Sea and then route south around India toward Singapore.

To reach China's east coast ports, those ships must pass through the congested Malacca Strait, where U.S.-backed Singapore monitors its narrow waters.

Before docking in China, they then must sail up the South China Sea which is wracked by U.S.-China and regional rivalry to control its shipping lanes, islands, and undersea resources.

The CPEC however would enable oil vessels from the Persian Gulf to stay in the Arabian Sea and unload their cargo at Gwadar for overland vehicle transport north to China's Xinjiang.

"The deepening relationship between China and Pakistan through CPEC could strain U.S.-Pakistani relations, driving Islamabad closer to Beijing," Washington-based Newlines Institute warned on Nov. 14.

In addition to a sleek 1,860-mile (3,000-kilometer) highway and upgraded port, the CPEC projects at Gwadar include construction of a new Gwadar International Airport, a desalination plant, a coal-fired power plant, container berths, and terminals for bulk cargo, grain, oil, and liquified natural gas.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) sent more than 300 special operations, army aviation, and logistic support troops from its Western Theater Command to the Pakistan-China Joint Exercise, Warrior VIII, China Military online reported.

China's Western Command "guards the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India and the China-Pakistan boundary," the Press Trust of India news agency reported on November 19.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Nov. 20, "China firmly supports Pakistan's effort of fighting terrorism."

The 300 Chinese troops joined special operations forces from the Pakistan Army's Special Service Group (SSG).

"The exercise will focus on joint counter-terrorism clean-up and strike operations," Chinese-government controlled Xinhua News Agency reported.

"The two sides will engage in multi-level and mixed training across various specialties, and organize live troop drills in accordance with the actual combat process," Xinhua said.

China's Ministry of Defense said, "This exercise aims to consolidate and deepen practical exchanges and cooperation between the two militaries, as well as to strengthen their joint anti-terrorism capabilities."

The drills began at Pakistan's National Counter-Terrorism Center in Pabbi, in mountainous northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which borders Afghanistan near the Khyber Pass canyon, Radio Pakistan reported.

The Chinese troops and their equipment arrived in batches on Y-20 transport aircraft and marched onto Pakistan's tarmac in desert combat camouflage including steel helmets topped with what appeared to be camera and telescopic lenses, according to online news videos.

They joined bearded Pakistani forces, similarly uniformed, at a joint flag-raising ceremony before deployment, field surveys, and setting up a command post.

"Significantly, the military drills, the eighth edition between the all-weather friends, are being held amid reports that China is pressing Pakistan to permit its forces to provide security for hundreds of Chinese personnel working in the $70 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor," reported India-based Raksha Anirveda magazine which monitors defense and aerospace industries.

"The Baluch Liberation Army (BLA) along with the Islamic militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) stepped up attacks against the Chinese nationals and the Pakistan military in Baluchistan and neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bordering the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan," the magazine said.

Insurgents have been fighting for decades for impoverished Baluchistan's autonomy or independence.

They claim Pakistan commits extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Baluchistan, and exploits the province's natural resources while neglecting to bring modernization.

They became anti-Chinese during the past 10 years amid allegations that the province and Gwadar port will profit Beijing and Islamabad, but not Baluchistan.

Gwadar's port is administrated by Pakistan's Maritime Secretary, and operated by the China Overseas Port Holding Co.

Hot, arid Baluchistan borders similarly dry, bleak, undeveloped zones in southeast Afghanistan and southeast Iran.

That Muslim-dominated triangle forms a Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran tinderbox of competing feuds by tribes and governments.

"CPEC will not only benefit China and Pakistan but will have positive impact on Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asian republics, and the region," said the Pakistan government's CPEC Secretariat on its website.

Beijing reportedly asked Islamabad to allow China's security forces to have boots on the ground to protect Chinese workers, but Pakistan instead promised to boost security.

"Pakistan has decided to launch a comprehensive military operation to curb active terrorist organizations in the country's southwest Baluchistan province, the [Pakistani] Prime Minister's Office said in a statement," Xinhua reported on November 21.

Pakistan and China however are expected to face difficulty upgrading Gwadar and the CPEC highway while grappling with bloody assaults by ethnic Baluch and other separatists.

In October, the separatist Baluch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed a suicide bombing which killed two Chinese engineers outside Karachi's international airport, 240 miles (380 kms) east of Gwadar.

"It is unacceptable for us to be attacked twice in only six months,” a livid Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong publicly stated after the bombing.

The earlier attack killed five Chinese engineers working on China's Dasu Hydropower Project in March when a suicide bomber rammed their convoy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

"We are solid in our commitment to the safety and security of Chinese nationals, institutions, and projects overseas," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said at the time.

"China and Pakistan have the resolve and capability to make the terrorists pay the price," the ministry's spokesman Mr. Lin said.

Also in March, security officials killed eight armed insurgents who were trying to enter the Gwadar Port Authority complex.

Pakistan has declared the the Baluchistan Liberation Army, the Baluchistan Liberation Front, and other Baluchi insurgents as terrorist organizations.

Baluchistan's gold meanwhile has attracted China Metallurgical Group Corp (MCC) which opened gold mining sites in 2023 under Beijing's Copper-Gold Project in Baluchistan's Saindak region and nearby locations.

Baluchistan's natural resources also include oil, coal, and natural gas.

Baluchistan's insurgents "perceive Chinese investments -- the CPEC, in this case -- as exploitative, on the grounds that the Baluchi people allegedly have not benefitted from socioeconomic development or improvement in their living conditions," Newlines Institute said.

"In response, Beijing has demanded the Pakistani government conduct thorough investigations and increase security measures," it said.

Pakistan said CPEC, which began construction in 2015, will streamline Baluchistan's road, rail, port, air, and data communication systems, attract industries and agricultural development, improve medical facilities, vocational training, tourism, and create jobs.

In September 2023, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome "visited Gwadar's port and met with Port Authority Chairman Pasand Khan Buledi to learn about port operations and development plans, Gwadar’s potential as a regional trans-shipment hub, and ways to connect with Pakistan’s largest export market: the United States," the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said in a statement at the time.

"In a meeting with Pakistan Naval West Command, Ambassador Blome discussed regional issues and emphasized a continued partnership in the years ahead," the embassy said.

Pakistan has tried to assure the U.S. that Gwadar will remain an open, commercial port.

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Richard S. Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based American foreign correspondent reporting from Asia since 1978, and winner of Columbia University's Foreign Correspondents' Award. Excerpts from his two new nonfiction books, "Rituals. Killers. Wars. & Sex. -- Tibet, India, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka & New York" and "Apocalyptic Tribes, Smugglers & Freaks" are available at https://asia-correspondent.tumblr.com

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