China's Indian Ocean Power Projection

The European Union Institute for Security Studies published in July 2018 an analysis titled "Along the Road: Gwadar and China's Power Projection" by Frederic Grare, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The analysis looks at the reasons why the China Overseas Ports Holding Company has taken over the management of Pakistan's Gwadar port. The author concludes that it has less to do with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and more to do with future use by PLA Navy ships that would give China anti access/area denial capabilities in the waters adjacent to the Strait of Hormuz. It should also be seen in connection with the new Chinese military base in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.