BEIJING/ISLAMABAD: China has been extending support to its “all-weather”ally Pakistan. The latest in its series of efforts, China is helpingPakistan with the construction of eight submarines to ensure a toughcompetition to the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean.

According to sources, under Project Hangor, China’s shipbuilding industryis building the submarines which will soon be handed over to Pakistan.India, as of now, has 16 submarines while Pakistan has 10. The acquisitionof new submarines is a part of Pakistan’s effort to scale up itscapabilities in underwater warfare.

At a time when instances of Chinese troops infiltrating into the Indianterritory is also not new, the submarines will add to Pakistan’s strengthand are likely to be a headache for the Indian Navy. The move comes at atime when China has already successfully launched two remote sensingsatellites for Pakistan which will also help keep an eye on India as theybuild the strategic $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).The launch of the two satellites is yet another space cooperation betweenChina and Pakistan since the launch of communication satellite PAKSAT-1R inAugust 2011.

The satellites — PRSS-1 and PakTES-1A — were launched from the JiuquanSatellite Launch Centre in northwest China using a Long March-2C rocket.The PRSS-1 is China’s first optical remote sensing satellite sold toPakistan. It is the 17th satellite developed by the China Academy of SpaceTechnology (CAST) for an overseas buyer.

It is being said that the PRSS-1 will be used for land and resourcessurveying, monitoring of natural disasters, agriculture research, urbanconstruction and providing remote sensing information for the CPEC underthe Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of the Chinese government.

The USD 50 billion CPEC is a network of infrastructure projects that arecurrently under construction throughout Pakistan that will connect China’sXinjiang province with the Gwadar port in Pakistan’s Balochistan province,giving China an opening to the Arabian Sea.

The satellite can turn at wide angles to enable the cameras to cover awider range. The PRSS-1 has an information security design, and the datacan be encrypted.