It has a new deepwater port, Gwadar, and provides a route for trade and pipelines to Central Asia.

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However, Hamayoun Khan, of the National Defence University in Islamabad, insists that China's interest in Gwadar remains chiefly commercial.

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Under an ambitious scheme, it could be developed to take goods by road and rail between Gwadar and south-west China.

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It has also leased a 12, 000-acre land area to Chinese developers for a zone in Gwadar Port in Baluchistan Province, near the entrance to the Gulf of Oman.

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Tremors were felt in southern Pakistan, including the city of Karachi, and across Balochistan province from Gwadar on the southern coast to Quetta and the border with Iran.

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When I reported on Gwadar in 2010, officials from both the Chinese developer and the PSA described its purpose as an economic one, a base for trade with the Persian Gulf.

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