Originally appeared at Zero Hedge
America’s declining influence in the Middle East and the Pacific Rim has been in hyperdrive this week following President Trump’s tweetstorm against Pakistan.
On New Year’s day, Trump unleashed a series of tweets accusing Pakistan of harboring terrorists, and went so far as to threaten cutting off the country’s financial aid. To make matters worse, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, also accused Pakistan of playing “a double game for years,” and said President Trump would withhold $225 million in aid to the country.
Trump’s tweetstorm did not impress the Pakistani government: in response, it announced that it would be evicting some 1.4 million Afghan refugees from the country later this month. The Pakistani government also announced closer ties with China, and would ditch the dollar in bilateral trade with China, a move that has threatened Washington’s diplomatic relations with Pakistan.
And now, according to the Washington Times, Pakistan will further boost economic and defense ties between Beijing and Islamabad. The report specifies that China is planning to build a military base in Pakistan, which would be its second military base in the East. The naval installation will be erected in a key strategic location: the Pakistani town of Jiwani, a port near the Iranian border on the Gulf of Oman and near the Straits of Hormuz, which resides at one of the six proposed economic corridors of the One Belt One Road Initiative, commonly called the Silk Road Economic Belt.
Plans for the base were advanced during a visit to Jiwani on Dec. 18 by a group of 16 Chinese People’s Liberation Army officers who met with about 10 Pakistani military officers. Jiwani is located on a peninsula about 15 miles long on a stretch of land with one small airfield.
China’s economic strategy in the Jiwani region of Pakistan is as follows:
Plans call for the Jiwani base to be a joint naval and air facility for Chinese forces, located a short distance up the coast from the Chinese-built commercial port facility at Gwadar, Pakistan. Both Gwadar and Jiwani are part of Pakistan’s western Baluchistan province.
…
The large naval and air base will require the Pakistani government to relocate scores of residents living in the area. Plans call for their relocation to other areas of Jiwani or further inland in Baluchistan province.The Chinese also asked the Pakistanis to undertake a major upgrade of Jiwani airport so the facility will be able to handle large Chinese military aircraft. Work on the airport improvements is expected to begin in July.
The naval base and airfield will occupy nearly the entire strategic peninsula.
Jiwani will be China’s second overseas military base, in addition to the first foreign military base opened last year in Djibouti, a small but tactically critical African nation near the Horn of Africa, where China deployed troops for the first time last July. In doing so, China has direct oversight and visibility of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea, which together with the Suez Canal and Strait of Hormuz, is one of the planet’s most important oil chokepoints.
Washington has called China’s foreign military base expansion the “string of pearls” strategy. Meanwhile, as the world grows fed up with Washington’s overseas policies, the Chinese are using this opportunity to roll out military bases in the Persian Gulf through the Indian Ocean, and in South East Asia.
Harrison Akins, a researcher at the Howard Baker Center who focuses on Pakistan and China, told Newsweek, “Chinese investment in Pakistan is expected to reach over $46 billion by 2030 with the creation of a [China-Pakistan Economic Corridor] connecting Balochistan’s Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea with Kashgar, in Western China.”
“Trump will soon find that his ability to unilaterally exert pressure to promote U.S. policy and security abroad is severely limited, as Pakistan has increasingly relied upon China for economic and military assistance,” Akins added.
So as Pakistan pivots away from the US, both financially, diplomatically and militarily, China is happy to step in and fill all the voids.
Total direct investment in Pakistan, 2017:
China: $837 million
US: $42 million— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) 5 January 2018
And so, America’s fading influence has claimed its latest victim, Pakistan. In one week, President Trump and Niki Haley have managed to collapse the bilateral relations between Pakistan and the United States, which has spurred China to pick up the broken piece and start nation-building in Pakistan. And as China tastes diplomatic success, the same blueprint will soon be applied to all other “US-allied” nations in the region.
Pakistan base for China is already well established befoer Trumps balbbering. what his words has done is heighten the duplicity of Pakistan who do take iver 300 Million $ pers year and yet their Intelligense service encourage training camps for terrorists who killed over a 100 civilians people in India – Mumbais. PAkistan is a country run by generals who own every company ther e and whip up the people to fight ‘enemies’ like India. Pakistan is also one of the poorest and un-educated countries in the worls with a religio to keep women as virtual slaves.
” Pakistan is also one of the poorest and un-educated countries in the worls with a religio to keep women as virtual slaves.”
Whereas the USA is one of the richest country in the world that has a semi literate and uneducated population mass and where the Talmudic religion that de facto controls the USA and uses movies and advertising to keep women as virtual sex slaves.
Darn it you make sense!
I try to in all I do :)
I think that Karachi is one of the cities with the highest ratio of software-developers per squaremeter outside Silicon Valley. A country without a solid scientific and industrial basis does not have nuclear weapons of own design and manufacturing. So please , don´t tell bullshit about education in Pakistan.
Pakistan did not develop its nukes. It got the know how from China and they have failed miserably to account for them and had to get millions in bribes (from the US) before they would put in fail safe devices that stopped local commanders from using them. The population is kept in control by threating them with India while the Generals strip off all value. سچ
Nukes are not only “know-how” . You need very skillful machining and craftsmen for the job. Those craftsmen and toolmakers doesn´t grow on trees. Probably the generals in charge of the government doesn´t qualify for model-democrats under western standarts , but that is totally irrelevant for the job they are in.
I would hardly describe the top US generals as ‘model-democrats ‘ either :)
If you put Uranium on bullet and fire it into more uranium it will go critical. Pre-universty stuff. Name a Pakistan company that is not run, controlled, or kept ‘secure’ by the Generals.
The Pakistan military has had money for a long time . From the beginning of the nation they have worked towards creating their own nuclear technology and weapons. By converting to the Saudi Wahhabi brand of Sunni , they pulled in more billions . They hired German , American and Chinese , to their credit , they were successful . The capital , is a military fortress , and yes there are some who are very educated . So for the last twenty five years they have been a nuclear power , but at great cost , the vast majority are still uneducated and poor
@ Miguel Redondo Pakistan is poor beyond belief , like Bangladesh . Poor because the wealthy do not share at all . The poor are lucky if they have any education . They are lucky if they make $ 2.00 US a day . Even Karachi , while it has some money , if you flew in , you wouldn’t believe your eyes . Go take a look .
@ Bolter10 The Pakistani military is run by Generals who are Saudi Wahhabi Muslims . Their intelligence services were “educated” or “converted” by Saudi Arabia with American backing and money . Wahhabism is an extremely dangerous control ideology , that hides behind the mask of being a religion . It really has no moral restraint . They will kill their own to further an agenda . China best use their money and influence to rid Pakistan of the “Wahhabi” and “Muslim Brotherhood” or they will “convert” China’s Islamic population . Those Generals as you said are very much at the top of the economic structure , and still backed by ME money , Saudi , Kuwait , UAE , Qatar . Unfortunately Chinese are generally so focused on money , the Wahhabi could easily blindside them .
Thank you for the information and well said.
in pakistan is no wahabbism. pakistan also refused (several times) to participate in jihad against syria.
Solomon ; generally i try to give you credit for being honest , but in this case you are completely wrong , or simply do not know .
can be but in case syria i am sure right
like russia. only this byzantian country is owned by secret service officers.
The Map with shows chinese engagement is very interisting , yes indeed. Here an amplified version: https://ec.europa.eu/epsc/sites/epsc/files/375891.png
The pearls are being added gradually, Djibouti, Jiwani in Pakistan, and possibly one or two locations in Indonesia ( Sumatra) with easy access to Malacca straights, neutralizing Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean or any other choke points US navy would try to interdict.
russiafans, dont enjoy this. china is looking at central asia. the next step os kazachstan. nazrbayev changed azbuka to latin alphabet. moscow is very sullen. russia will lose also this country. without cyrillika decreases the russian languge usage, ans so the russian influence. growing china = shrinking russia. for russia the most dangereaus s china, not the north-atlantic civilisation. always the asian nations enslaved russia.
”… always the asian nations enslaved russia.” Russia is a Eurasian country. Its identity is in Eurasia. Its future is in Eurasia. Why would Russia want to be part of a declining and increasingly a marginalized continent. Why would Russia want relations with US/NATO/Israel vassal states.
Mongols ruled over Russia for two hundred years. There was religious freedom and an administrative system that did not exist before. Compared to Napoleon and Hitler, Genghis Khan was the lesser of the evils. Furthermore, Russians learned military tactics and cavalry warfare from the Mongols. Many Mongols and Tatars converted to Orthodox Christianity and were Russified. They and fought bravely to defend the Russian land. The Cossack soldiers and cavalry are among the converted Tatars who were Russified.
Russians are Norse i.e. vikings by descent. Mongols and Tartars came and went back home. Gengis Khan left little rules or how to run countries and after his death his empire fell apart.
Russia is a Eurasian country. Its identity is in Eurasia.
so, animals.
i hear this bullshit from 95% of russians (the primitive part of that nation). of course, we, europeans will not look at them as europeans, but as foreigners. europe is mot marginalized. 10x better is to live in europe thaen in eurasian dictatorship. typical is this real story: one russian family immigrated in germany years agou. last january they went back to russia, because the father (eurasian cock) did not want that the children learn liberalism at school. in may went back from russia in germany, because the life in russia was on extremly low niveau in comparison to germany.
so loco, i see massive migration of russians in europe and not europeans in russia.
further, you simply lie about tatars. they enslaved russians, killed men, took women. the worst, infected you with primitivity of asia. the moscow khanat had already quite different mentality then the kievian rus. you are from tatar times extremly primitives. not compatible with europe. the grale of your stupidity is, that you are proud, that you are half animals and not civilized. look at your backyards, building. everywhere dirt, weed, devastation. and you, primitive trolls are proud that this is russia, this is russian life style. you are proud, that you are heavy drunker, druggers, extremly rise of aids. the young make life threataning actions, because only if they do such supidities and drink lot of vodka means they are maen.
last, but not least, napoleon did not harmed russians. kutuzov much more. he burned russian houses. bu for rulesr in russia the russian people bever meant somezthing. this is also asian mentality.
you wer only slave for asia. and in the future, if you will not change, you will be the slaves of china. :)))
No nothing eyes people are busy with economic war.
Yes the nation of Pakistan is a Military dictatorship, and corruption in all financial and social climbing is done by bribery and ads kissing. So what, it is more honest there where populace know of it as a lifestyle, than in US where the duality of population controls, has 300 millions dumb as rocks who think they live in a BENIGN DEMOCRACY, ( much as do herd animals); While the other 30+MILLIONS manage nation either as instigators or paid lackeys to administer the real and Totaly corrupt Kleptocracy of Oligarchs. The US herds set this duopoly of government willingly, living not so much upon own populace initiative, and trade and use of National resources, now all future rights owned by internationals, to advance wealth of minor sectors of population. The BENIGN laws now allow the wealth of nat ion to increasingly go openly to that top structure. Openly done because the other 300+MILLIONS actually believe they can join that corruption laden upper group someday.
Pakistan port was already planned and I like the bit where it says ‘Pakistan will have to relocate scores of civilians.’ More like a hundred thousand.