A Pentagon report released on Tuesday singled out Pakistan as a possible location for a future Chinese military base, as it forecast that Beijing would likely build more bases overseas after establishing a facility in the African nation of Djibouti. Chinese military in 2016, funded by robust defence spending that the Pentagon estimated exceeded $180 billion. That is higher than China's official defence budget figure of $140.4 billion.
The report repeatedly cited China's construction of its first overseas naval base in Djibouti, which is already home to a key US military base Camp Lemonnier and is strategically located at the southern entrance to the Red Sea on the route to the Suez Canal.
The US report noted, Pakistan, was already the primary market in the Asian-Pacific region for Chinese arms exports. That region accounted for $9bn of the more than $20bn in Chinese arms exports from 2011 to 2015.
It cited China's 2016 launch of the first experimental quantum communications satellite, acknowledging that it represented a “notable advance in cryptography research.”
"China most likely will seek to establish additional military bases in countries with which it has a longstanding friendly relationship and similar strategic interests, such as Pakistan," the report said.
China has become increasingly assertive militarily in recent years, especially in territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas, where it frequently challenges US warships and planes.
Military expansion overseas also ties into a $900bn infrastructure initiative championed by president Xi Jinping to create a new Silk Road, with some of the planned projects in unstable regions like Afghanistan and Pakistan.
China already has the largest navy in the Pacific, the Pentagon report said with more than 300 ships. But China still lags behind the US and Japan in terms of technology and capability.
In a break with previous assessments, the US defense department did not record a significant increase in reclaimed land centered on disputed islands in the South China Sea. China previously poured sand into the ocean to create 3,200 acres (1,300 hectares) around seven rocks and reef in the spratly islands, according to the report.
Three of the man-made islands have airfields and will be capable of supporting three regiments of fighters once it finishes construction of “24 fighter-sized hangars, fixed-weapons positions, barracks, administration buildings, and communication facilities at each of the three outposts”.