NEW DELHI – China is building the first of four “most advanced” navalwarships for its “all-weather ally” Pakistan as part of a major bilateralarms deal to ensure among other things “balance of power” in the strategicIndian Ocean, state media reported.

Equipped with modern detection and weapon systems, it will be capable ofanti-ship, anti-submarine and air-defence operations, China Daily quotedstate-owned defence contractor China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC)as saying, Press Trust of India has reported.-

The under-construction ship is a version of the Chinese Navy’s mostadvanced guided missile frigate, it said.

The CSSC did not specify the ship’s type but said it is being constructedat its Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai.

China, an “all-weather ally” of Islamabad, is the largest supplier ofweapon system to Pakistan. Both the countries also jointly manufactureJF-Thunder a single engine multi-role combat aircraft.

The ship’s class is Type 054AP, which means it is based on the Type 054A ofthe People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, the report quoted the PakistaniNavy as saying.

The Pakistani Navy previously said four such ships had been ordered,according to the report.

Once constructed, the warship “will be one of the largest andtechnologically advanced platforms of the Pakistani Navy and strengthen thecountry’s capability to respond to future challenges, maintain peace andstability and the balance of power in the Indian Ocean region,” the reportsaid.

It will also support the Pakistani Navy’s initiative of securing sea lanesfor international shipping by patrolling distant waters, the daily quotedthe CSSC as saying.

The mention of the Indian Ocean is regarded as significant as China, whichhas already taken over Pakistan’s strategic Gwadar port under themulti-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), looks to assist thePakistani navy to restore the balance of power in India’s backyard.

China has acquired the logistical military base in Djibouti and taken overthe Hambantota port of Sri Lanka under a 99-year debt swap deal.

China recently denied a New York Times report that it finalised a plan tobuild advanced fighter aircraft under the CPEC in Pakistan, adding amilitary dimension to it.

India protested to China over the CPEC as it is being laid through thePakistan Kashmir.

Pakistan became the first country to hook on to China’s BeiDou SatelliteNavigation System, a rival to the US Global Positioning System (GPS) whichwent global recently. The system was expected to be used for militaryapplications.

The report said Type 054A is the best frigate in service with the PLA Navy.Military sources said the ship has a fully loaded displacement of about4,000 metric tonnes and is equipped with advanced radars and missiles.About 30 Type 054As are in service with the PLA Navy.

An insider in China’s shipbuilding sector with knowledge of the Type 054APprogramme told the Daily that the ship is the largest and most powerfulcombat vessel China has ever exported.

“Based on pictures circulating on the internet, the ship will have verticallaunch cells that can fire Chinese HQ-16 air-defence missiles and otherkinds of missiles. Vertical launch cells will bring flexibility to the userin terms of weapons portfolio, thus giving it a stronger fightingcapability,” he said, adding that the Type 054AP is the best frigatePakistan can access in the international market.

“The service of Type 054APs will double the combat power of the PakistaniNavy’s surface fleet,” he said.

Commenting on the ship’s construction, Cao Weidong, a senior researcher atthe PLA’s Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said in the past, thePakistani Navy would ask its Chinese contractors to use Western radars orweapons on ships constructed by the Chinese shipbuilders because itbelieved the Western naval technologies were better than Chinese ones.

“But it seems that all weapons and radars on the new ship will be Chineseproducts, which reflects our progress in the industry and the PakistaniNavy’s confidence in our technology and capability,” he said.

Cao said there are many nations selling frigates in the market, so Pakistanmust have made thorough comparisons in terms of combat capability and costs.

“I believe the reason they chose our type is that ours is one of the fewthat can carry out all of the air-defence, anti-ship and anti-submarinetasks,” he said, expecting the service of the Chinese frigate tosubstantially boost Pakistan’s defence capability.