Corridor Calculus
corridor-calculus-china-pakistan-economic-corridor-and-china-s-comprador-investment-model-in-pakistan
corridor-calculus-china-pakistan-economic-corridor-and-china-s-comprador-investment-model-in-pakistan
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<strong>Corridor</strong> <strong>Calculus</strong> : China Pakistan Economic <strong>Corridor</strong> & China's Comprador Investment Model in Pakistan<br />
comfort. If anything, it is a matter of serious concern as it complicates India's<br />
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security environment. India has lodged strong protests with China, and<br />
the external affairs minister has gone so far as to call the CPEC<br />
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'unacceptable'. Despite Chinese rejection of India's protests on grounds<br />
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that the CPEC isn't aimed against any third country, India has declared that<br />
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it will continue to oppose the CPEC. Although Gwadar is well within the<br />
reach of the Indian Navy, and as compared to the long and unreliable lines of<br />
communication for the Chinese through Khunjerab pass or even via the<br />
Indian Ocean, India's lines of communication and logistics are much more<br />
secure; however, a Chinese base in Gwadar makes a two-front war scenario<br />
a much more real possibility confronting India. After all, if hostilities break<br />
out between India and either Pakistan or China, then Gwadar will become a<br />
legitimate target, more so if either the Pakistanis or Chinese use Gwadar to<br />
launch naval operations against India and/or place their naval assets there.<br />
If India hits Gwadar, then regardless of whether it is fighting China or<br />
Pakistan, the other country will get pulled into the conflict. This is probably<br />
one of the calculations, at least as far as the Pakistanis are concerned, that<br />
prompted them to offer Gwadar as a naval base to China.<br />
For the Chinese, however, Gwadar can serve as a base not so much for taking<br />
on the US or India, but more for reasons of securing its shipping and its<br />
citizens in a highly unstable region. Andrew Small has argued that the<br />
evacuation operations that the Chinese conducted in Libya in 2011, their<br />
participation in anti-piracy operations in the Arabian Sea, and the possibility<br />
that the Chinese navy will be required to conduct more such operations in<br />
the future make it important for China to have a secure base from which it<br />
can operate. Gwadar serves the purpose of a base that can be used for<br />
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Charu Sudan Kasturi, ' Sparks before PM China trip', The Telegraph 13/05/2015, accessed at<br />
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150513/jsp/nation/story_19777.jsp#.Vn_uGBV97s0<br />
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Transcript of Media Briefing by External Affairs Minister on Completing One Year in Government , Ministry Of External<br />
Affairs, 31/05/2015, accessed at http://www.mea.gov.in/mediabriefings.htm?dtl/25304/Transcript_of_Media_Briefing_by_External_Affairs_Minister_on_Completing_One_Year_in_Governm<br />
ent_May_31_2015<br />
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'CPEC not against third party, declared China', The News International 02/06/2015, accessed at<br />
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print/12796-cpec-not-against-third-party-declares-china<br />
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'India to keep opposing CPEC: Dr Raghavan', The News International 16/07/2015, accessed at<br />
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print/13650-india-to-keep-on-opposing-cpec-dr-raghavan<br />
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