Gwadar, May 14:

By the azure waters of the Arabian Sea, a remote Pakistani fishing town is being transformed into a massive deep sea port to cash in on the inexorable rise of the Chinese economy.

Gwadar port, a $250 million project that is 80 per cent Chinese funded, is expected to start operations la-ter this year to capitalise on its strategic location between South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It lies near the Straits of Hormuz, through which about 20 per cent of the world’s oil is transported.

Pakistani prime minister Shaukat Aziz recently claimed Gwadar could ‘change the map of shipping in the world’ and serve as a regional energy hub for shipping and refining oil from the Gulf. But the development of this barren peninsula has received a hostile response from impoverished tribesmen who say it is depriving them of fishing waters and bringing no economic benefit to locals. Tribal insurgents are suspected in the killings of six Chinese workers in the Baluchistan province since the project got off the ground five years ago - including a May 2004 bombing that killed three Chinese engineers.

China’s interest is driven by concerns about energy security. It is seeking a place to anchor pipelines to secure oil and gas supplies from the Persian Gulf. Beijing also believes that helping Pakistan develop will boost economic activity in its far western province of Xinjiang and dampen a simmering, low-intensity rebellion.

“It will benefit China’s trade to Europe, Africa and Middle East,” said Moonis Ahmer, an international affairs professor at the University of Karachi. “It will also give a boost to the economy in sou-thwestern Pakistan.”