China Adding Military Presence in Pakistan Seaport

China is working on expanding its presence at a coastal city in Pakistan to be able to handle Naval ships and military transport planes.

The Washington Free Beacon reported that China, which already owns the Gwadar Port in Gwadar Pakistan, is now growing the port to accommodate military vessels. The nearby Gwadar International Airport is also being upgraded to allow military planes to take off and land.

The strategically located Gwadar is just to the east of the Gulf of Oman and is not far from Pakistan's border with Iran. A Chinese military presence there would allow the country to keep tabs on what the United States and other western nations are doing militarily in the volatile Middle East region.

Tankers carrying Middle East oil also flow past Gwadar on a daily basis.

Gwadar is at one end of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a network of construction projects that, when finished, will link China with Pakistan and the Arabian Sea via new roads and bridges.

China is also expanding its footprint closer to home by constructing artificial islands for military use in disputed areas of the South China Sea.

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