KARACHI: Chief of Pakistan's naval forces, Admiral Zaffar Mahmood Abbasi dismissed reports that China was constructing its overseas military base in Pakistan, and said the naval base in Gwadar belonged to Pakistan, while addressing the open session of an international maritime seminar in Karachi on Saturday.
The over $60 billion development project underway in the deepwater port city of Gwadar in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan has ambitious Chinese investors pouring in billions but has also drawn a spate of controversy which highlights a growing unease among Pakistanis that Chinese interests might be more than trade-related.
“I must say it very clearly that there is no reality in such assertions. Gwadar will have a naval base but it will be Pakistan’s,” he said.
The naval chief’s statements came on the second day of the sixth AMAN-2019, an international naval exercise that focuses on maritime cooperation and security and is hosted in Pakistan once every two years, with 46 countries participating this year.
Referring to earlier reports that accused China of pushing for greater military and power projection capabilities along strategic sea routes, Abbasi said the sole purpose of China’s presence in Gwadar was economic.
Mrs. Yan Yan, deputy director at a research center for oceans’ law and policy, also spoke at Aman-2019 and reasserted this position, and said China’s only designs for the Indian ocean were trade related.
“As Pakistan’s naval chief said, China’s presence is for trade and economic purposes,” she said.
Dubbing reports to the contrary as “fake news,” Yan said that CPEC was totally an economic project for the mutual benefit of participating countries sans any military designs.
“China has no military designs and the CPEC is totally an economic project with huge economic benefits for both China and Pakistan,” she said, adding that 90 percent of world trade and 45 percent of Chinese trade went through Indian Ocean routes.
Pakistan President Dr. Arif Alvi, who was chief guest at the inaugural session of the three day maritime seminar, said the Indian Ocean was a dominant place for international trade.
“All regional powers are hopeful that Pakistan will not allow the trade channel to be disturbed,” he said.
CPEC, he said, is all about trade through the Indian Ocean, to enable peaceful transportation of goods to parts of the world.
“Pakistan is for peace. Pakistan is a changing place with booming economy and great future. Today’s Pakistan is the most secure Pakistan,” he said.
