Meanwhile, Chinese analysts cast doubts over the viability of the Gwadar port to become a hub of energy supply for the country, as the news of its takeover figured prominently in the official media today. State-run Global Times in its editorial dismissed China threat as cliche. "Any port has potential military value. There are growing suspicions that China will station fleets of warships in the Indian Ocean or other waters and establish naval bases worldwide. However, few Chinese support this. "There are no benefits for China in encircling India, and strategists in both countries don't want to play such a game," it said. "Chinese merchant ships can be seen all over the world nowadays, but we have no interest in 'pirate civilisation'. "China alone cannot convince the outside world, but regional prosperity promoted by China's operations at Gwadar port in the future will be strong evidence of this," it said. "China's development needs Gwadar port and Pakistan needs China to develop (it). We should do our best to reduce the suspicions of other powers. "But if they insist on doubting China despite its restraint, it's no fault of China's," it said. Zhou Dadi, former director-general of China's Energy Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission, told state-run Global Times that Gwadar port's role in securing China's energy supply is being overstated, and that the costs for building an oil pipeline and transporting oil via railways would be high. "The idea of using the route from Pakistan to China as an alternative energy line can be seen as a last resort at most," he said, adding that a situation in which the Strait of Malacca is blocked would result in a worldwide conflict, which is highly unlikely. Another commentator, Peng Nian, Institute of South Asian Studies, Sichuan University said the success of China's takeover of the port hinges on the construction of China-Pakistan railway line through PoK without which it would become a "decorative piece". In his commentary, before China formally took over the deep-sea port, he argued that construction of the railway line is a must for safe northwest energy channel -- China plans to build between Gwadar and Xinjiang. Only after China-Pakistan railway line is built, the strategic resources such as oil and gas coming from Gwadar port will enter China easing its energy security difficulties, he said. "If China-Pakistan railway line is not constructed, Gwadar port will become a decorative piece unable to play its strategic role," he said.
