China on Tuesday told the “outside world” to stop guessing about its reported plans to build a military naval base near Pakistans Gwadar in the Arabian Sea.
Under the $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Beijing is developing Gwadar port, the last point of the economic route that begins from Chinese city Kashgar.
A Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming was quoted as saying in a media report that “China needs to set up another base in Gwadar for its warships because Gwadar is now a civilian port.”
“As you know the building of CPEC is an important part of the Belt and Road initiative and China and Pakistan are also making efforts to build the CPEC, which is in the common interest of the countries along the route,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said.
“So, I don’t think it is necessary for the outside world to make too many guesses in this regard.”
According to a Pakistani news outlet, officials in Islamabad denied reports that a Chinese naval base was coming up.
Gwadar has strategically located in the Arabian Sea and some 70 km away from Iran’s Chabahar port being developed by India.
China last year opened its first military overseas base at Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.