Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • On this episode of China Uncensored,

  • the Chinese Communist Party loves

  • Pakistan'sprime beachfront property.

  • Welcome back to China Uncensored.

  • I'm Chris Chappell.

  • This is Gwadar.

  • It used to be a sleepy fishing town

  • on the coast of Pakistan.

  • But over the past several years,

  • with Chinese investment

  • of hundreds of millions of dollars… …this once a sleepy fishing town

  • has morphed into a deep-sea port

  • and a giant gateway for trade.

  • Now controlled by the Chinese regime.

  • Ah, progress.

  • The state-owned China Overseas Ports Holding Company Limited,

  • or COPHC, “has proudly taken over

  • and will be calling the shots

  • for the next 40 years.

  • The port, Gwadar,

  • is near the mouth of the Persian Gulf.

  • That areathe Strait of Hormuz

  • is a key shipping route.

  • About 20% of the world's oil

  • flows through there,

  • plus a huge quantity of regular cargo.

  • Gwadar is especially important to China

  • because it connects the western part of China

  • to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan.

  • And that gives China easier access to

  • the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

  • The port is a lynchpin linking land and sea

  • in Xi Jinping's One Belt One Road Initiative.

  • One Belt One Road is a network

  • of trade corridors that connect

  • China with the rest of the world

  • and make it easier for China

  • to acquire raw materials,

  • export Chinese goods,

  • and project its influence across the globe.

  • The trillion dollar One Belt One Road

  • is marketed as thenew silk road,”

  • a purely economic initiative

  • meant to evoke a romantic age

  • where silk flowed west

  • along ancient trade routes.

  • Only now, instead of silk,

  • it's cheap plastic toys.

  • The Chinese Communist Party insists

  • that One Belt One Road is about

  • peace and prosperity.

  • But not everybody is so sure.

  • The Center for Strategic and International Studies,

  • a think tank, points to

  • thestring of pearlstheory.

  • Thestring of pearlsis the idea that

  • China plans to develop a string of military bases

  • along the Indian Ocean to support

  • extended naval missions

  • and expand its military reach.

  • The report says that even if China

  • doesn't establish naval outposts directly,

  • by investing in trade-related infrastructure

  • around the world,

  • China is creating places

  • with Chinese characteristics.”

  • These are locations that can serve

  • as support for the Chinese Navy,

  • but technically let China say

  • they're not expanding military bases.

  • What, us expand our military?

  • No!

  • We want 'prosperity for all

  • not global hegemony.'”

  • But, places with Chinese characteristics

  • would stillaffect the security calculus

  • of India and the US in the region,

  • as well as set a precedent,

  • potentially for application in Europe.”

  • In other words,

  • these places could give

  • the Chinese Communist Party

  • similar advantages to having military bases,

  • but the Party gets to deny

  • that they're military bases.

  • So they can call the militarystring of pearls

  • part of their trade corridor.

  • But in Pakistan, China is bold enough

  • to call a spade a spade.

  • At least that's what two separate reports claim

  • from the South China Morning Post

  • and the Washington Times.

  • China is building a joint naval

  • and air base for Chinese forces,

  • just a short distance up the coast from

  • you guessed it

  • the port of Gwadar that they now control.

  • Sourcesfamiliar with the dealsay

  • a group of Chinese People's Liberation Army officers

  • met with Pakistani military officials in December

  • and hammered out a deal that would see

  • the port of Jiwani,

  • about 15 miles away from Gwadar,

  • become a Chinese military base.

  • It would have  a small airfield be upgraded

  • tohandle large Chinese military aircraft.”

  • And it might also require the forced relocation

  • ofscores of residents living in the area.”

  • Don't worry, the Chinese regime

  • is very skilled at forced relocations.

  • They're scheduled to break ground

  • for the base in Jiwani this July.

  • Jiwani will be China's second offshore military base.

  • Its first offshore military base

  • was launched last year

  • in the small,

  • hilarious African nation of Djibouti.

  • The former Foreign Secretary of India,

  • Kanwal Sibal, is not surprised.

  • He predicted it back in 2014,

  • when China was getting

  • extra chummy with Pakistan

  • over the mega-port in Gwadar.

  • He wrote thatChina will, inevitably,

  • follow up with its commercial footholds

  • in the Indian Ocean with naval ones.”

  • It's not always great to be right.

  • Ok, it usually is.

  • Retired US Army Reserve Colonel Lawrence Sellin

  • writes that China's Jiwani base

  • a sign ofChinese militarisation

  • of Pakistan, in particular,

  • and in the Indian Ocean.”

  • He said the combination of Chinese military bases

  • in Djibouti and Pakistan wouldnot only [be]

  • capable of dominating vital sea lanes

  • in the Arabian Sea,

  • but boxing-in U.S bases

  • in the Persian Gulf

  • and outflanking the US navy.

  • And the retired Colonel warns that

  • more Chinese military expansion

  • could be on the way,

  • using what he calls

  • debt-traptactics.

  • That's when the Chinese regime

  • lends you tons of money.

  • And then when you can't pay it off,

  • they offer to forgive the debt in exchange

  • for strategic infrastructure

  • or natural resources.

  • It's like borrowing money

  • you can't pay back

  • from your friendly neighborhood loan shark.

  • Except instead of breaking your legs,

  • he makes you lease him your legs

  • for 99 years.

  • Like what the Chinese Communist Party

  • did in Sri Lanka.

  • There is concern that the Chinese

  • will transform its 99-year lease

  • of the Sri Lankan port of Hambantota

  • into another naval base,

  • the exact 'debt-trap' method

  • the Chinese used in Djibouti.”

  • So then the Party would have a naval base

  • right off the southeast coast of India.

  • To match its new Pakistani military base,

  • which is just to the west of India.

  • India is not happy.

  • Especially because they've seen what happens

  • when China builds bases,

  • sorry, islands,

  • in the South China Sea.

  • So what do you think about China's plans

  • to build a military base in Pakistan?

  • Leave your comments below.

  • Once again, I'm your host, Chris Chappell.