Hong Kong : Recently reports have surfaced that China is building a second overseas naval base, one in Pakistan. However, it is important to distinguish fact from knee-jerk speculation, especially when so far there is a paucity of hard evidence to suggest this is true.
To answer the question in the headline, it is only natural for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to make plans to establish overseas facilities to support its assets, because that is what militaries do. The real question, then, is whether China is enacting concrete plans right now to build a base on Pakistani soil.
It is undeniable that China will gradually establish more naval facilities on the periphery of the Indian Ocean. Even the Pentagon's annual report entitled 'Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2017' predicted China will establish additional overseas "in countries with which it has a longstanding friendly relationship and similar strategic interests, such as Pakistan, and in which there is a precedent for hosting foreign militaries".
While the USA did not name Gwadar, this location has long been touted as the likely location of a second base for China. The Pentagon added, "A more robust overseas logistics and basing infrastructure would also be essential to enable China to project and sustain military power at greater distances."
Where in Pakistan?
The Washington-based The Daily Caller published an op-ed on 1 January in which it claimed, "In the last two weeks, meetings held between high-ranking Chinese and Pakistani military officers indicate that a new Chinese military facility will be built on the Jiwani peninsula between Gwadar and the Iranian border. The plan is said to include a naval base and an expansion of the already existing airport on the peninsula, both requiring the establishment of a security zone and the forced relocation of long-time Balochi residents."
The distance between Gwadar Port and Jiwani is about 60km, and it is another 20km to the Iranian border. However, the report was scant on detail supporting this claim of a PLA base. Indeed, given the investment China is putting into Gwadar, is it likely to establish a base so far away and so close to the border? Iran, for one, would not be enamored with the idea.
To date, this claim of a Chinese naval base in Jiwani remains isolated. Nonetheless, another voice adding weight to the establishment of a Chinese base near Gwadar is a South China Morning Post story published on 5 January. It included this statement: "Another source close to the People's Liberation Army confirmed that the navy would set up a base near Gwadar similar to the one already up and running in Djibouti." The report related that the new base "near the Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea would be used to dock and maintain naval vessels, as well as provide other logistical support services" because Gwadar, as a commercial port, could not meet military needs.
China and Pakistan may well be planning such a controversial facility, especially given the privileged access that the Hong Kong-based newspaper is sometimes given by the Chinese authorities. In that case, ongoing frantic media reports could be construed as welcome, for they serve as a kind of trial balloon to gauge international reaction. Every time these reports surface, the inevitability of the PLA Navy (PLAN) setting up a base in Pakistan becomes a little more embedded in the public's consciousness.
While Islamabad has not responded to the allegation of a Jiwani base, the government refuted the notion that China will create a military base in Gwadar. On 4 January, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal stated, "There is no proposal of building any Chinese military base near Gwadar. This is all propaganda against the development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and strengthening of relations between Pakistan and China."
Gwadar is strategically located on the Arabian Sea near the mouth of the Persian Gulf. While there is no sign of a Chinese facility there yet, Gwadar is home to PNS Akram, a modest naval base for the Pakistan Navy (PN) and Pakistan Marines. Task Force-88 was activated therein December 2016.
Berthing space of 600m is allocated to the navy, plus there is a joint tri-service cantonment. A 2016 report by the Senate Defense Committee noted the naval base is "a significant addition to our maritime infrastructure," but that it is "primarily a commercial venture [that] affords substantial operational flexibility to the navy". The Pakistan Maritime Security Agency is basing 600-tonHingol-class patrol vessels there too.
A report entitled 'The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor - Barriers and Impacts' by Arif Rafiq, published last year by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), stated, "The navy is the least funded of Pakistan's three military services, and it is unlikely that Islamabad would spread itself thin by devoting a considerable number of naval assets to Gwadar. Doing so would require acquisitions well beyond Pakistan's budgetary capabilities. The notion of commercial ports such as Gwadar serving a dual purpose, though, has potential. They can serve military purposes in wartime, for example."
Jinnah Naval Base at Ormara, positioned halfway between Karachi and Gwadar, is a more critical naval base than Gwadar for Pakistani maritime security. Submarines are shifting there, for example. The PN also has a facility at Jiwani to help monitor traffic in the Arabian Sea, while an air base at Turbat was inaugurated last March. Karachi remains the navy's most important base.
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