Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Anthony Maw Source- The Diplomat Author- Akhilesh Pillalamarri China has recently extended Pakistan a much-needed economic lifeline, announcing infrastructure projects that could boost trade and investment. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will connect the western Chinese city of Kashgar with the Pakistani port of Gwadar, in the province of Balochistan, near the Iran-Pakistan border. The project would give Pakistan’s poorest province an economic boast and China access to another route to the Indian Ocean and the Middle East, while connecting many Pakistani cities in between. Many in Pakistan have hailed the corridor as proof of the eternal and amazing friendship between China and Pakistan, though obviously realpolitik is more likely at work here than anything. After all, a recent article notes that while China has proved a reliable and steady partner for Pakistan, many Chinese do not think highly of Pakistan. China

Gwadar Port ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons/ Credits- Author) Source- The Diplomat Author- Jack Detsch China’s President Xi Jinping came to Pakistan bearing serious cash this week, pledging to invest $46 billion in their neighbor’s fragile infrastructure on Monday. Much of that money will go toward the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It’s a mix of roads, rails, and pipelines that will connect Beijing’s infrastructure at Gwadar Port in Balochistan, just off the southern tip of the Persian Gulf, with Xinjiang province on China’s western frontier, some 3,000 kilometers away. That will do much to enrich a relationship that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif once described as “sweeter than honey.” It also gives China a direct route by land to the Indian Ocean basin, the site of 70 percent of the world’s oil traffic. If enacted, that plan would enable China’s naval vessels and merchants to bypass the Malacca Strait, long a haven for pirates and militants who

China- Pakistan Karakoram HighWay ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Anthonymaw) Source- Eurasia Review Author- Andrew Small The China-Pakistan relationship has inspired plenty of florid language, invoking “iron brothers” whose “all-weather friendship” is “higher than the Himalayas and deeper than the oceans.” Yet the public demonstrations of this closeness have often fallen short of the rhetoric. The latest manifestation is the on-again, off-again visit by China’s President Xi Jinping. After being forced to cancel his trip last year due to anti-government protests in Islamabad, speculation has grown over why it has proved difficult to reschedule. This reached its peak during Pakistan’s National Day celebration in March, after Pakistani officials had initially suggested that Xi might be the guest of honor, a counterpoint to President Barack Obama’s glittering visit to India in January. Xi’s no-show elicited claims of a Chinese “snub.” This is a relationship w

Augusta Submarine ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Yannik Le Bris) Source- The Diplomat Author- Franz Stefan- Gady Back in 2012, Pakistan announced the creation of a Naval Strategic Force Command and hinted that the country now possessed a sea-based second nuclear strike capability. Today, almost three years later, Pakistan’s alleged maritime deterrent continues to puzzle analysts. The overall consensus of opinion is that the country has not acquired a sea-based second nuclear strike capability just yet. Another thing that most experts agree is that the delivery vehicle of an ocean-launched Pakistani nuclear warhead would be a submarine-launched variant of the Hatf-7 (Babur) cruise missile. According to a 2013 policy brief on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, Pakistan already indicated in 2005, when the missile was first tested, that the system was designed to deploy in submarines. The Hatf-7 is a medium-range subsonic cruise missile with a reported

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Henry Le  Source- The Diplomat Author- Lucio Blanco Pitlo III The celebrated revival of the Silk Road would seem to herald the return of China’s charm offensive, winning over neighbors and other countries in the region through increased trade incentives and transport connectivity. If developing a sound soft power strategy is the mark of a rising world power, does this mean China is on its way? Certainly, in the wake of recent episodes of differences and disputes, the initiative should be seen as a welcome development. Nonetheless, some countries along the envisioned route remain wary and skeptical of the real intentions behind this offering, as well as the possible unfavorable conditions that may be attached to it. In addition, while Beijing tends to highlight its economic credentials, the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (hereinafter, SREB/MSR) has strategic, political and security implications that pa

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author- United States Government   Source- The Diplomat Author- Sarah Graham  One of the few remarked-upon passages in Hillary Clinton’s otherwise unenlightening Hard Choices was her recollection of the decision not to inform Pakistani authorities of the U.S. raid to kill Osama bin Laden. In her retelling, the suggestion that the U.S. should tend to the diplomatic sensitivities of its ally was summarily dismissed by the most senior officials in the room. This would pose too great an operational risk given the known links between the Pakistani military and terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda and the Taliban, even, scarily, at the risk that Pakistani authorities might mistake the U.S. incursion for a fully-fledged military attack by someone else. So well known are these terrorist connections, in fact, that sponsorship of terrorism by various elements of the Pakistani state has its own Wikipedia page, and analysts consider the use

PAF J-17 ( Image credits- Wikimedia  Commons / Author- Aldo Bidini) Source- The Diplomat Author- Ankit Panda The JF-17 Thunder (also known as the FC-1 Xiaolong) is a lightweight, single-engine, multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and China’s Chengdu Aircraft Corporation. With a relatively low unit cost of $15-25 million, price is the primary selling point for this capable and versatile jet which Flashpoints‘ Robert Farley has described as conceptually a “modern MiG-21.” Despite the seemingly positive bang-for-buck proposition, the JF-17 has had a hard time finding committed buyers. Indeed, part of the reason that defense procurement programs the world over have shirked the jet is prestige, but additionally, the jet remains largely unproven. While a few states have expressed interest, Pakistan and China received some bad news this week with the news that Egypt — a major regional military — will likely instead go with France’s Rafal

Gwadar Port ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons./ Author) Source- The Diplomat Author- Kiyya Baloch The multi-billion dollar agreement between Pakistan and China to develop the port of  Gwadar  does not present a very promising picture for the people of Gwadar, still living in atrocious conditions amid  serious security threats . Gwadar is one of the most generously endowed areas in the region thanks to a 790-km coastal belt as well as a wealth of mineral reserves. However, this wealth is not reflected in the lives of its local people. Gwadar’s coastline, located on the shores of the Arabian Sea, is important to the shipping route into and out of the Persian Gulf. The government of Pakistan formally awarded a multi-billion dollar contract for the construction and operation of Gwadar port to China last year, aiming to improve the port and open the doors of development and prosperity for Pakistan, particularly Balochistan. Meanwhile, residents of this small area are stil

Source- The National Interest Author- Gordon G.Chang On November 29, Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif broke ground on a section of the Hazara Motorway, which will connect the outskirts of the capital city of Islamabad to China through the Karakoram Highway. The four-lane, fenced road in mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province will, according to current projections, take two years to complete and cost $297 million. The groundbreaking move, China’s Xinhua News Agency proclaims, “signal[s] the implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor agreement.” When the Corridor is completed at the turn of the decade, China will have effectively cut Pakistan in two. At the same time, Beijing will be able to use the Corridor’s new transportation links to faster deploy its forces to areas disputed by Pakistan and India. In early November in Beijing, Sharif signed Corridor pacts authorizing $45.6 billion in projects in his country. Of that total, $33.8 billion is al