China to Build Second Foreign Naval Base - in Pakistan

China is planning to build its second foreign naval base in Pakistan following the ribbon cutting ceremony for its first overseas base in Djibouti last July.

Sources close to the People's Liberation Army have confirmed to the South China Morning Post that a Chinese naval port is being built at a strategic location on Pakistan's southern coast.

"China needs to set up another base in Gwadar for its warships because Gwadar is now a civilian port," Zhou Chenming, a Chinese military analyst, told the South China Morning Post on Friday. "Gwadar port can't provide specific services for warships," Zhou said; hence the need for a new base.

Gwadar is less than 50 miles east of the Pakistan-Iran border and sits in Balochistan Province, where fiercely independent Baloch nationalists have waged guerrilla wars against both the Pakistani and Iranian governments. "Public order...