London
China, whose revisionist and revanchist policies are universal, now has an eye on the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) including the nations on the East-African coast.
According to a ‘Pentagon’ report’, Beijing might seek to build more overseas military bases in countries with which it has long maintained good relations and shared common strategic interests with it.
Pakistan is a fit candidate in Asia in this scheme of things, ports in countries like Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania are also on the Chinese wish list in Western IOR.
Strategic thinkers in Pakistan consider the modernization of the Pakistan Navy, mostly sourced from China, besides setting the ‘Balance of Power (BoP)’ with India, aimed at protecting China’s economic and political ambitions in IOR.
The future role of the Pakistan Navy is, therefore, premised on achieving “Equalization of Sino-Indian Confrontation” in the IOR. This is in line with Islamabad’s tradition of seeking short-term gains in pleasing external strategic benefactors, earlier it was the US and now it’s China, reported Daily Sikh.
Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe in a meeting (April 2019) with Pak Chief of Naval Staff Abbas Raza, termed China-Pakistan defence and security cooperation as an important pillar of bilateral relations.
Notably, China and Pak exchanges and cooperation in the defence sector have intensified over the years. According to US media reports (January 2019), the strength of the Pak Navy has been enhanced and would further be strengthened after the completion and delivery of more advanced warships by China.
