The Hindu: Pakistan Gas Deal: Iran Backs China’s Inclusion

Iran has jumped decisively on the “belt and road” bandwagon, flagging its interest in linking China with its proposed natural gas pipeline to Pakistan.

“I don't think it's too far away [for] this pipeline to be extended to China through Pakistan. That is something that would be of common interest to Iran, China and Pakistan,” Iran’s ambassador to China Ali Asghar Khaji told South China Morning Post.

Iran’s Press TV is reporting that China has signed an initial agreement to construct the pipeline from Gwadar to Nawabshah in the southwest of Pakistan, during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan, which concluded earlier this week. Gwadar is also the starting point of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which was formally inaugurated during the presidential visit. The CPEC will terminate in China’s Xinjiang province which is already an energy hub from where imported gas from Central Asia is channeled to China’s industrial heartland along the coast.

Analysts say that extension of the Iran- Pakistan pipeline to China will be a blow to India, which had pioneered with Iran, the concept of the an Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) peace pipeline in 1995. The Iranians have blamed India of dropping out of the project under pressure from the United States in 2009. As reported then by The Hindu, the Iranians had responded to India’s concerns, stated, in the form of non-paper in 2008, which included clarifications regarding the precise origin of the gas in Iran, as well as the point of delivery along the India-Pakistan border. MORE