BEIJING – Iran invited both China and Pakistan to participate in theconstruction of its Chabahar Sea Port, but China has not given a clearresponse.

“We have invited China to participate in the construction of the ChabaharSea Port in different phases, free trade zones and the Zahedan-ChabaharRailway, among others. Until now, the Chinese side has been studying theChabahar projects but no agreement has been signed yet on the saidprojects,” a diplomat from the Iranian embassy in China told the GlobalTimes.

Iran also invited Pakistan to help construct Chabahar, which is on the Gulfof Oman near the Iran-Pakistan border.

“Since we made a decision to start the massive project of theChina-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Iran intended to invite us to joinits project in Chabahar,” said Hua Liming, a former Chinese ambassador toIran.

The move has drawn the attention of India, which has already participatedin the construction of Chabahar.

In 2016, India signed a deal with Iran for an $8 billion investment in theChabahar Port and industries in the Chabar Special Economic Zone, includingan aluminium smelter and a urea making facility, as the Chabahar Port isbeing developed into a transit route to Afghanistan and central Asia.

“But Iran fully understands that, on infrastructure construction andfinancial strength, India cannot compare to China.

Iran sees India as an alternative rather than the first choice of apartner, and this is why it is still trying to invite China,” Hua noted.“China has the Belt and Road initiative and can take advantage of ChabaharPort to implement its initiative.

India is going to gain access to Central Asia. We have provided thisability for all countries to seize the opportunity in order to push theirinterests. So it is a port for cooperation and not for competition,” theIranian diplomat in Beijing told the newspaper.

“We had to make a difficult choice. China can only focus on one flagshipproject at a time in one region, and in the Indian Ocean, at this stage,the CPEC is the flagship project,” Hua said.The two ports are located very close to each other, so it is hard to avoida certain level of competition.

The Chabahar project is huge, as it also includes railway construction tolink Central Asian countries, like Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, to China,Hua said.

“China needs to consider it very carefully. It seems like China doesn’twant to refuse Iran but might still be looking for a suitable way toparticipate in the project,” he said.

“China, Pakistan and Iran have already started discussions about theChabahar project through trilateral dialogue, which was participated bydiplomats, scholars and officials responsible for specific projects,” saidWang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at RenminUniversity of China, who is a member of the trilateral dialogue, withoutrevealing details. -APP