Pakistan to Help China Boost Its Influence in Middle East via Economic Corridor

China and Pakistan agreed to accelerate the building of the economic corridor from Xinjiang to Gwadar, Chinese state media reported. Accelerated construction fits in a China's strategy on strengthening its influence in the Indian Ocean and the Middle East, Russian experts told Sputnik.

Islamabad will help Beijing implement the project of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in a shortened time, Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry assured China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting on August 22. No other details of the talks in Beijing were reported.

China's expert from the Diplomatic Academy Ren Yuanzhe believes that this time the corridor dialogue was held in conjunction with the Chinese initiative of building the Silk Road:

"The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is the main component of the One Belt, One Road initiative. Its construction plays an important role in the Sino-Pakistani relations and throughout South Asia, regarding peace, stability and the economic development of the region."

"In addition, there is a traditional profound friendship between China and Pakistan, which lifted their bilateral ties to all-weather strategic cooperation and partnership; that is why the parties are paying great attention to the construction of CPEC," Yuanzhe told Sputnik.

The expert expressed his hope that China will use the project to stimulate development of cooperation in the South Asian region:

"I suppose that the construction of this corridor is not conducted for the repression of other countries or for the isolated increasing of China's influence. I hope that for China, this project will be a method to stimulate further expansion and development of cooperation in South Asia, and between China and Pakistan in particular."

Meanwhile, observers point out that China's intention to accelerate the construction may be associated with the implementation of the county's geopolitical objectives in the region. In particular, it can be connected to China's plans to use Pakistan as a bridge to the Middle East. According to Deputy Director of the CIS Institute and military expert Vladimir Yevseyev, the Pakistani Gwadar Port could become a new regional service point for Chinese warships, after the creation of such a base in Djibouti:

"According to the available information, Chinese Navy warships enter the territory of the Gwadar Port without a formal declaration. It can be assumed that Gwadar is already partially used as a Chinese naval base. It is still difficult to say whether it will be officially documented or not."

Nevertheless, China's presence in the port actually refers to its presence not only in South Asia but in the Middle East as well, the expert said.

"This indicates that China goes beyond its national borders not only as the world's leading economy, but also as a new center of power, which begins to create military bases in the necessary regions of the world," Yevseyev told Sputnik, noting that the base in Djibouti is being built in close proximity to the one that belongs to the US, allowing China to control its activity and conduct technical reconnaissance.

CPEC is the first example of China protecting its interests with reliance on the military. In spring, Pakistani and Indian sources reported that Chinese Army troops began to protect the economic infrastructure and the safety of thousands of Chinese workers and specialists involved in the project. The number of the Chinese contingent was not specified; it is only known that it works hand in hand with the Pakistani military. Islamabad has allocated up to 10 thousand soldiers for these purposes. It is not excluded that the role of the military aspect of the economic corridor could have been discussed at the recent talks in Beijing.

After Pakistan, Syria may become the next country where it will be possible to use the Chinese special forces to protect China's commercial interests. President Bashar al-Assad recently expressed his personal interest in China's participation in the post-war arrangement of Syria. And China in return showed its readiness to dispatch its own military experts to train the Syrian Army. It was a sign of the military's interest in participating in the fate of Syria after the war.