China-Pakistan relations: security fence at Gwadar port creates new tensions
- Balochistan home minister reverses plan to erect a fence around Chinese-operated facility after protests from local people
- Port forms part of the US$62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
China and Pakistan will deepen cooperation on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), in particular Gwadar port and a railway upgrade project, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Pakistani counterpart, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, on Thursday.
Wang said it carried significance to call his “iron brother” friend – a term used to describe the strong relationship between the two countries – on New Year’s Eve to reaffirm their friendship and Beijing’s commitment to the CPEC.
On Tuesday, Ziaullah Langove, the home minister of Balochistan, the southwestern region that contains the Chinese-operated facility, had to reverse plans to build a fence around it in response to protests from locals.
Gwadar port, on the Indian Ocean coast, sits at the southern end of a network of railways, roads and pipeline projects built under the CPEC connecting Pakistan’s north with China’s westernmost province, Xinjiang.