The third Pakistani port benefits from a double strategic positioning. On land, it is the final destination of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which connects the Chinese city of Kashgar, in the province of Xinjiang to the Indian Ocean. Maritimely, it is located 600 km from the Strait of Hormuz, an important trade and energy maritime route between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. In 2015, Pakistan granted for forty years the management of the port of Gwadar to a Chinese public company, two years after the launch of the corridor project. Ten years later, what are the issues surrounding this essential link in the “new silk roads”? Analysis by David Chaudet, associate researcher at the French Institute for Central Asian Studies (Ifeac) in Bishkek.
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China-Pakistan: the port of Gwadar, “essential piece” of the “new silk roads”
