A few days after India and Iran signed the Chabahar Port pact, a report by Chinese state media said that “India may not be able to meet its generous offers and high-sounding rhetoric.”
China deems the deal to be part of India’s designs to gain access to Middle East and Central Asia.
“Chabahar is just the tip of the iceberg of India’s geostrategic ambitions. Besides building new berths and upgrades to Chabahar, what interests New Delhi more is a comprehensive scheme that can reshape India’s geopolitics to the northwest and extend its influence further into the Middle East, Central Asia and the Trans-Caucasus,” said the report.
China seems to think that the deal with Iran is done to bypass Pakistan and gain leverage and positioning, while reducing Pakistan’s political and economic influence in the region.
The report says “India also views its investment in Chabahar as a counterweight against Pakistan’s Gwadar Port, a Chinese-funded deep sea port 72 kms east of Chabahar.”
However, China thinks that India will not be able to carry on its plans and will fail because Iran may not support it in its geostrategic goals and that if India expected too much from Iran, it is “bound for disappointment.
Chabahar port, located on Iran’s southern coast, lies outside the Persian Gulf and is easily accessed from India’s western coast, bypassing Pakistan.
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)