New port gives Beijing strategic foothold in Middle East Beijing has gained a new strategic foothold in the Middle East with the opening of a Chinese-backed deep water port in southern Pakistan. The Gwadar Port is on the Arabian Sea, not far from the mouth of the Gulf, through which 30 per cent of the world's daily oil supply passes. The regime of President Pervez Musharraf says the facility will bring economic benefits to the resource rich but under-developed Pakistani province of Balochistan, where insurgents have been fighting for greater autonomy. But the $1 billion plus project has geo-political significance. Gwadar offers China a deep water port through which it can project naval power into the Middle East and across the Indian Ocean to Africa. ABC news By Peter Lloyd 21.3.07