Pakistan transfers a key port at mouth of Persian Gulf to China.

Pakistan transfers a key port at mouth of Persian Gulf to China.(GLT).KARACHI, PAKISTAN — Pakistan has agreed let China take operational control of a strategic deep water port on the country's southwestern coast.
The port is vital to Beijing's economic and perhaps military interests.A spokesman for Pakistan's Ministry of Ports and Shipping, Mohammed Raza, says the Cabinet agreed Wednesday to the deal involving Gwadar port in Baluchistan province.
Under the deal, a company owned by the Chinese government, China Overseas Port Holdings Limited, would purchase control of the port from Singapore's PSA International Pte Ltd.
Raza said Friday that the transaction has not yet taken place.
Asked about the port Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Beijing will support projects that are conducive to good relations with Pakistan.
China's take over of Pakistan's strategic Gwadar port is not aimed at ‘encircling’ India, but the move is crucial to the country's economic interests as it gives western China access to the Arabian Sea to access oil supplies from the Gulf, official Chinese media said on Friday.
"Not surprisingly, China's intentions in taking over GwadarPort have been interpreted through a military perspective. Many analysts from the West and India believe that China harbours the intention to build naval bases there," a commentary posted on the state-run Global Times website said.

"Chinese operational control of Gwadar has seemingly set off alarm bells in India as it feels it is being encircled by China. The Chinese presence in Gwadar has also been seen as a threat to the US fleet in the Middle East."

"In fact, China is not so powerful, nor is India so weak, so as to make it possible that the transfer of a mere civil project can ‘encircle’ India," it said.
Gwadar Port is in a critical strategic location: It is at the apex of the Arabian Sea and the mouth of the Persian Gulf, and only about 400 km away from the Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil supply route. Read the full story here.