Beijing Builds its Eurasian Transportation Network

Beijing Builds its Eurasian Transportation Network

By Richard Weitz

China continues to make progress in building its Eurasian transportation networks with the aim of deepening its economic ties in Central and South Asia as well as providing a foundation for its regional security interests. Gwadar, a port town in western Pakistan close to Iran , looks to be a focal point for Chinese investment. On February 18, 2013, the previous operator, the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA), sold its shares to the state-run China Overseas Port Holding Company (COPHC), citing regional violence as making the port commercially unviable (South China Morning Post, August 8, 2012). Nonetheless, the Chinese government plans to connect its western provinces with Gwadar by rail, road and pipeline, which could also enable China to import energy products from Iran by land. The port transfer is however causing alarm. Chinese and Pakistani officials have downplayed the significance of the commercial transfer, but India and other regional actors suspect China will eventually use the facility in part to support its power projection activities in the Indian Ocean.http://www.jamestown.org/programs/chinabrief/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=40723&tx_ttnews[backPid]=25&cHash=af8eb5e77f2b2a8b42ac4cfebab6b23d

 

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