BANGALORE: China's role in operating a strategically important port in Pakistan is a matter of concern for India, its defense minister said yesterday, as New Delhi and Beijing jostle for influence in the region.
Indian policy-makers have long been wary of a string of strategically located ports being built by Chinese companies in its neighborhood, as India beefs up its military clout to compete with its Asian rival.
Management of Gwadar port, around 600 km (370 miles) from Karachi and close to Pakistan's border with Iran, was handed over to state-run Chinese Overseas Port Holdings last week after previously being managed by Singapore's PSA International.
"It is a matter of concern to us," Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony told reporters when asked about Chinese control of the port.
When complete, the port, which is close to the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping lane, is seen opening up an energy and trade corridor from the Gulf, across Pakistan to western China, and could be used by the Chinese Navy, analysts say.
"It will enable (China) to deploy military capability in the region," said Jay Ranade, of the Centre for Air Power Studies and a former additional secretary at the government of India. "Having control of Gwadar, China is basically getting an entry into the Arabian Sea and the Gulf."
China has also funded ports in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, and Chittagong in Bangladesh, both India's neighbors.
"Gwadar is a more serious development than the others," Ranade said, as the Pakistani port gives China base facilities.
A Pakistani foreign ministry official told Reuters that the port was none of India's business.
"India has no concern with whoever Pakistan decides to work with on Gwadar," said the official, who declined to be identified. "We first had a deal with Singapore but that didn't work out as desired. Singapore's PSA International and the Chinese have settled the deal."
China and India fought a brief border war in 1962. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said last week that Gwadar was a commercial project, part of long-standing bilateral cooperation. "China will actively support any program that benefits China-Pakistan relations and the prosperity of Pakistan," he told reporters.
India, the world's biggest arms importer in recent years, plans to spend around $ 100 billion over the next 10 years in upgrading its mostly Soviet-era military hardware to keep pace with China's ramping up of defense spending.
The country was bound to modernize its armed forces in response to China's own modernization, Indian Defense Minister Antony said at an air show in the southern city of Bangalore, adding that strengthening its north-eastern border with China was not a confrontation with its neighbor.
"It is our duty. If they are doing it, we will also do it," said Antony, adding that the presence of a Chinese delegation at the show was a "welcome step," without elaborating.
Despite the push to overhaul its military, India's defence budget would not escape a tightening of government spending this year, Antony said, as New Delhi looks to rein in its fiscal deficit.
"Our priority areas will not face budget cuts. Those essential to operational preparedness, there won't be any budget cuts," Antony said.
A long-awaited deal for India to buy 126 Rafale fighter jets from France's Dassault Aviation was being reviewed by a cost negotiation committee, Antony said, adding that the delay in finalising the deal was not due to budget cuts.
India selected the Rafale from several options and entered into exclusive talks with Dassault for the $15 billion contract more than a year ago.
Air Vice Marshal Zheng Yuanlin headed a five-person Chinese group at the Aero India show in Bangalore after New Delhi extended its first invitation to China in January. India welcomed the senior Chinese delegation for the first time at its air show.
yesterday even as the country's defence minister warned of a military build up on their border.
The move came after a decision last September to resume joint military exercises following the first visit of a Chinese defence minister to New Delhi in eight years.
"It is a welcome step, even though we have long pending border issues," Defence Minister A.K. Antony told reporters. "We are trying to improve relations in all areas."
The last Aero India in 2011 saw New Delhi snub China again along with arch-rival Pakistan amid a spike in tensions, but the Chinese ambassador in New Delhi was allowed to attend in a negotiated compromise.
Suspicion of China runs deep in the Indian military and hawkish comments from senior commanders often conflict with the political leadership, which stresses the need for a partnership between Asia's two biggest nations.
Antony said that a border management agreement signed by the countries had helped reduce tensions on the frontier between Tibet and northeastern Indian states, but he warned about a military build up.
"They are reinforcing infrastructure in a big way... The government of India is bound to modernise our armed forces. Strengthening our border by way of infrastructure by putting more assets there is our duty," he said.
"This is not for a confrontation, but at the same time we must be ready to face any eventuality."
He also said that New Delhi was concerned by Pakistan's decision last month to hand over the management of a strategically located deep-sea port in the Arabian Sea to China.
Pakistan transferred the Gwadar port on Jan. 30 from a Singapore company to China, which provided most of the funding to build the facility in the province of Baluchistan.
"In one sentence, it is a matter of concern for us," Antony said.
China has been extending its influence with traditional allies of New Delhi around the Indian Ocean as well as in neighbouring Pakistan, where it is the country's main arms supplier.
India and China claim parts of each other's territory, while competing interests in the South China Sea and Indian Ocean are frequent sources of friction.
Military cooperation was called off in 2010 after a row when China refused a visa to an Indian commander stationed in the disputed region of Kashmir.
The two sides have held more than a dozen rounds of inconclusive talks to resolve their border disputes, which led to a brief but bitter war in 1962.
Much of India's huge military modernisation — it is the world's biggest arms importer, according to monitors — and its expanding long-range missile programme is seen as partly in response to China's rise.
The Indian military has traditionally seen neighbour Pakistan as its biggest foe after three wars since independence in 1947.
But as India's economic interests spread geographically, Indian leaders see the need to be able to project force further afield while also defending against any future threat from Pakistan or China.
