Syed Fazl-e-Haider

While Pakistan's prized port at Gwadar in Balochistan province is supposed to open up an energy corridor from Central Asia and the Gulf across Pakistan to western China, security is the actual key to the Beijing's grand energy security plan, which includes developing Gwadar port as an alternative to the Strait of Malacca — a narrow waterway between Indonesia and Malaysia.

With increasing stakes in Afghanistan's vast mineral and energy deposits, China is engaged in resource politics in the war-wracked but resource-rich country. Maintaining control of the country's strategic mineral and energy reserves is the name of China's new great game in Afghanistan.

With more attacks on Chinese nationals threatened by Baloch separatists in Pakistan, Beijing has pressured Islamabad to take foolproof security measures to protect its nationals and interests in the South Asian country. Columnist Syed Fazl-e-Haider explains.