Pakistan thumb’s nose at US. Gwader goes to China
Posted on May 22, 2011 by Lahori
Initially I thought of posting this article in Mirza Ghalib’s thread but on a second thought decided to post as a separate thread. MG Sahib my apologies….
Laden is dead, for the news reports out of Egypt, the terrorists are trying to keep Ladenism alive. American short-sightedness has created long term implications for America.
In forty minutes, President Obama alienated the most pro-American government that Pakistan has seen, alienated the head of the Pakistan Army, and angered the head of the ISI. Never has an American president accomplished more in a shorter period of time. President Obama could have killed a mass murderer with the help of the Pakistan government, but he chose to humiliate his friends. He jeopardies the relationship which obviously is not important enough for him to salvage.
He promises to intrude into Nuclear armed sovereign Pakistan again. What if a nut in Islamabad decides to retaliate? What if a missile is fired off at the chopper, or accidentally hits Delhi triggering a nuclear war. Mr. Obama has risked all that for short term gain.
So all in all, what did Obama gain? By deriding Pakistan, and jeopardizing an alliance, he has assured his own re-election–or has he? The Bush machinery has come to the defense of the Pakistanis. Donald Rumsfeld in a full throated defense of Islamabad said that American should take a deep breath and wait before make judgment.
Externally, the Obama actions have alienated the entire spectrum of Pakistani public opinion. The joint House of parliament passed a unanimous resolution condemning the US intrusion of sovereign Pakistani territory, and the Obama actions have in in fact pushed Pakistan into a tight embrace of China. Never since the Hushan empire, have the people of the Indus been closer to the rulers in Beijing.
In an act of well thought out rapid retaliation, the Pakistanis have given the prize of Gwader to China. The Americans had wanted the port to keep an eye on Iran and keep the Gulf of Hormuz an American enclave. All those dreams have gone up in a puff of smoke. Gwader was originally built by the Chinese for giving sea access to the Western provinces of China. US machination forced the Zardari government to hand over the port to the American friendly Singapore Port Authority.
The Singapore port authority, by design or sheer incompetence has been dragging its feet on the development of the port. The government of Balochistan is very disenchanted with the performance of the Southeast Asian company–and most in Pakistan want to fire it.
In a development this week, Pakistan’s Defense Minister has announced that China has agreed to take over operation of the strategically positioned port of Gwadar. In order to pacify US sensibilities, the announcement made sure that the fact was played up as a Pakistan request, and not a Chinese demand. Mr. Mukhtar said that “Islamabad would like the Chinese to build a base there for the Pakistani navy”.
The timetable for the transfer has been kept secret, however all indications are the Singapore Authorities will be asked to surrender the port as soon as possible. There is clear legal authority to do that, as the Singaporeans have clearly not lived up to their contractual obligations, and have not invested the amount of money that they were supposed to invest.
The Defense Minister’s statement Saturday is the latest illustration of how Pakistan is informing the Americans that it has choices. Islamabad has always had China as a powerful ally and aid source. There is general discontent with US aid and the way Washington has been operating in Pakistan. The most populous province has canceled all US Aid projects, essentially blocking American intrusion into the affairs of the province. Other provinces may follow suit. The mercurial politician, the rebel without a cause, has finally found his bearings, and is actually holding rallies against the NATO supplies. He should have done this a decade ago, but his tactics and the cause of Imran Khan are sacrosanct.
Almost all Pakistan agree with Imran Khan’s cause and his peaceful endeavors to stop the supplies to NATO. If Imran Khan is able to halt the supplies for a couple of weeks the US war in Afghanistan will come to a grinding halt. The last time Pakistan stopped the supplies, US GIs ran out of food rations and and even toilet paper!
Mr. Mukhtar made the announcement about the new arrangement on his recent visit to China in which he was accompanying Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on a visit to China last week. Construction of Gwadar started in 2002 and finished in 2007. Since then it has been operated by Singapore’s PSA International under a 40-year contract, for which a Chinese company also had bid. Beijing has already agreed to expedite delivery of a second batch of 50 jointly developed JF-17 fighter jets to Pakistan, within a couple of months.
Clearly Bharat is worried. Delhi’s obsession with Islamabad and Bharat’s paranoia about Beijing is evidenced by tall statements by its defense minister, A.K. Antony, who expressed serious concern about the growing defense ties between China and Pakistan. He threatened to build up its own military arsenal.
President Obama has not read the writing on the wall. His advice to Pakistan over the weekend was to kiss and make up with India so that the US could build South Asia up as a counterbalance to China. This failed American strategy has not worked and will not work. Islamabad has rejected it time and again. It is in fact Bhutto’s part, the Pakistan Peoples Party that rejected it in the sixties, and it the same party that is in power right now, albeit being run by an obsequiously compliant president.
To counter the Sino-Pakistan port, the Bharatis had tried to build a port in Iran as a viable alternative to Gwader.
Chahbahar was to baypass Pakistan and allow Bharati trucks to rumble from Chahbahar to Kabul via the Zaranj-Dilaram connection on the the Russian built Afghan ring road (which circles Afghanistan). Those plans blew up in smoke, thanks to the Bharati alliance with Israel and Delhi’s perfidious back stabbing of Iran at the IAEA. Delhi launching an Iran=specific satellite for Israel was the final nail in the Indo-Iranian relationship which was already suffering from rigor mortis.
In is obvious that Bharati officials are chagrined at the recent turn of events–China using Gwadar as a staging post for naval operations in the Gulf of Hormuz, Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and beyond.
Gwadar was a small insignificant former fishing village acquired from Oman by President Ayub Khan. It lies in the southwestern province of Baluchistan whose 14.5-meter-deep port is the only one in Pakistan capable of handling the biggest cargo ships. Gwadar will be a trade hub for Central Asia and a transit point for Western Chinese oil imports, most of which are now shipped via the Malacca Strait, making them vulnerable to piracy or Bharati naval blockades. China and Pakistan are building an oil pipeline from Gwadar to Xinjinag, in Northwestern China. Two new stretches of railway are in the final phase of being completed. The will extend the Pakistani rail network to Gwadar at one end, and to the Chinese border at the other–hooking it up to the Asian Network.
Bharati military officials see Gwadar as part of the Chinese “string of pearls” naval strategy, with nodes in Humbolta- Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
But the port has attracted far less traffic than it is designed for over the last four years, due in large part to opposition from politicians in Baluchistan, who say local people get insufficient benefit from the port and other commercial projects, relative to the central government.
PSA’s contract has been challenged in Pakistan’s courts and in September, the angry Adm. Noman Bashir, Pakistan’s naval chief, called for it to be reviewed. Pakistani officials also blame the Singaporean government for not pushing Pakistan’s case at AEAS as a full dialogue partner.
Beijing sees a colossal opportunity in the aftermath of Bin Laden’s death and the expected retreat of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Beijing is spreading its wings, and its long term strategy has always been to expand its influence in Pakistan, contain Bharat, open shorter new trade routes, operate a Blue water Navy that can protect Chinese interests globally.
The development of Gwader, the delivery of 50 FC-20s and Block II of the JF-17 Thunders plus road and rail links from Central Asia to Arabian Sea are just part and parcel of the policies that are mutually beneficial to Islamabad and Beijing.
http://lahoreledger.com/?p=35124
Some more links for those having doubts:
http://english.irib.ir/subcontinent/news/economy/item/78615-china-ready-to-operate-gwadar-port
http://www.defence.pk/forums/strategic-geopolitical-issues/109696-china-accedes-request-take-over-operations-gawadar-port-mukhtar.html
http://defenceforumindia.com/china-pakistan-defence/21828-pakistan-wants-china-build-naval-base.html
http://www.brahmand.com/news/China-to-take-over-operations-at-Pakistans-Gwadar-port/7110/3/14.html
