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China’s Pak. investments take a military turn
Why is it in news?
- Recently, the Pakistani Air Force and Chinese officials were coordinate on a secret proposal to expand Pakistan’s building of Chinese military jets, weaponry and other hardware.
- U.S. suspended billions of dollars of security aid to Pakistan in order to curb terrorist support by Pakistan and scare the Pakistani military into cooperating better with its U.S. allies.
More in news
- Pakistan as strategic card for China- It also gives Beijing a strategic card to play against India and the U.S. if tensions worsen to the point of naval blockades as the two powers increasingly confront each other at sea.
- Gwadar port significance-
- In 2015, under BRI, China took a Gwadar and supercharged the project with an estimated $800 million development plan that included a large SEZ for Chinese companies.
- Chinese-built seaport and special economic zone in the Pakistani town of Gwadar is rooted in trade, giving China a quicker route to get goods to the Arabian Sea.
- Linking the port to western China would be a new 2,000-mile network of highways and rails through the Balochistan province, a resource-rich region plagued by militancy.
- The public vision for the project was that it would allow Chinese goods to bypass much longer and more expensive shipping routes through the Indian Ocean and avoid the territorial waters of several U.S. allies in Asia.
- Military analysts predict that China could use Gwadar to expand the naval footprint of its attack submarines, after agreeing in 2015 to sell eight submarines to Pakistan in a deal worth up to $6 billion.
- Beidou satellite navigation system-
- Pakistan plays central role in China’s Beidou satellite navigation system.
- Pakistan is the only other country that has been granted access to the system’s military service, allowing more precise guidance for missiles, ships and aircraft.
- Naval footprint- China could use the equipment it sells to the South Asian country to refuel its own submarines, extending its Navy’s global reach.
- Air capabilities-
- According to the undisclosed proposal, SEZ under the CPEC would be created in Pakistan to produce a new generation of fighter jets.
- For the first time, navigation systems, radar systems and onboard weapons would be built jointly by the countries at factories in Pakistan.
- The proposal would expand China and Pakistan’s current cooperation on the JF-17 fighter jet, which is assembled at Pakistan’s military-run Kamra Aeronautical Complex in Punjab province.
- The Chinese-designed jets have given Pakistan an alternative to the U.S.built F-16 fighters.
Source
The Hindu