China is tightening its grip and strategic stranglehold around India faster than perceived earlier. But, at the same time, the Chinese move can bring about radical changes in security alignments in the Indian sub-continent. In its hurry to gain dominance over the entire area around India, China is demanding more and more access and presence in countries surrounding India. China has asked Pakistan to concede land for setting up military outposts throughout Pakistan to guard its assets created under the Belt and Road Initiative, according to a recent report. This has put the Pakistani Government and military authorities in a dilemma. The Chinese ambassador to Pakistan has already met the new Prime Minister and the defense heads to lay out the plans for defense outposts in the country. China has also asked for the creation of similar facilities in Afghanistan from the Taliban authorities, which apparently, they have refused outright. Conceding the Chinese requests for any number of military outposts in the name of guarding its economic interests in Pakistan would virtually mean bartering away its sovereignty and freedom of action. This will be a prelude to Pakistan going back into a neo-colonial status under China.
China is further demanding facilities for setting up a military airbase in lands adjoining the Gwadar port and work relating to the airbase is nearing completion. The facility in southern Pakistan could become a huge headache for the Indian defense as well. As has been witnessed in Sri Lanka recently, China does not bother too much about the niceties of requests and permission from the host countries. It simply takes over and implements its requests unilaterally at its own choice. The Chinese have for example kept on cruising towards Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port, despite the latter’s request for deferring the visit. As things stand now with Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves at the bottom of the barrel, China can cause a financial crash in Pakistan anytime it so wishes. The inconvenient fact is that Pakistan is in no position to honor its due debt repayments. China could then give effect to a seizure of all its assets from the control of the Pakistanis.
Meanwhile, the Afghans are proving to be a tough nut to crack for the Chinese. The relations between the Chinese and the Afghan authorities have started becoming more suspicious already and Afghans are defiant towards the Chinese military. The Afghan Taliban has refused to hand over any of the Islamic Uyghur militants to the Chinese authorities and the Uighur militant bases are fully operational from Afghanistan. On the other hand, the Taliban is said to be favourable to the idea of sending their military personnel to India for field-level training and exercises. There is no permanent friendship or enmity in diplomatic relations and the Taliban is open to the idea of cozying up to India for developing strategic capabilities to ensure their operational freedom. Undeterred by any of these hiccups in its designs, China is of course using a long-term plan of developing critical bases all around to augment its military outreach in areas far away from home. That would be critical for China in its bid to dominate the Indian Ocean and even the Arabian sea, in addition to controlling the entry into the Red Sea which gives access to European waters.
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