It is the 140th year of Pakistan’s existence. The United States has relinquished its responsibility for Pakistan. The New World Order is in place and China and Russia have assumed the responsibility of looking after half the world. They pay special attention to Pakistan. Now Mandarin is Pakistan’s national language, because in order to benefit from better job opportunities, it is essential to learn that language. Urdu is no more, English merely a second language. Urdu literature gathers dust in the archives.
Chinese architecture, Chinese industry and Chinese culture have spread throughout the land; so much so that Thatta, Badin, Larkana, Multan, Bahawalpur, Peshawar, Mardan, Quetta and even Turbat… all have become ‘Chinatowns’. Chinese cuisine has replaced Pakistani food and Chinese food markets have sprung up like mushrooms. People have stopped having kitchens in their homes. Due to the excessive consumption of chickens, rabbits, snakes, ducks and seafood, giant farms for them have been established. The Chinese have brought with them their vegetables and herbs. Pakistani food is now kept as memorabilia; chapli kebabs, qorma, biryani, pulaoand seekh kebabs are mentioned in children’s books as ‘things of the past’.
For a long while now, the Chinese have taken over the responsibility of the country’s defence; Russia and China have brought about peace at the borders and the country is being run as a ‘welfare state’. There are only five azaans a day from mosques. Religious freedom prevails but with regulations that restrict interfering in other people’s business. As poverty has been completely eliminated, nobody enrolls in madrassahs anymore.
The Pakistani army has been put to work on development and infrastructure projects. Since the army already had a vast experience in town planning and road building, its role in real estate and the corporate sector is yielding far better results. Since politics was sidelined a long time ago, the military is now fully immersed in its new job. Ayesha Siddiqa’s book on the institution is now being used by the army in a better way. Pakistan’s nuclear bombs are displayed in a large museum where foreign tourists are drawn to view these relics.
The words biggest and busiest airport is the Gwadar airport; the airports of Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi see little traffic. In efforts to populate Balochistan, new cities and new worlds have been built and the province has now became famous the world over for its indigenous fruits. Thousands of tonnes of dates, apples, pomegranates, grapes, watermelons, melons, cantaloupes, lychee, almonds, walnuts and cherries and apricots are exported from here across the globe.
A vast network of universities has been laid out across Pakistan. Confucianism, the latest marketing and IT have come together to sell new dreams like hot cakes. The vice chancellors and faculty members are robots that are imparting quality education to girls and boys. An intellectual has noted sarcastically that Pakistan’s vice chancellors used to be robots before as well, the only difference being they were robots of flesh and blood.
There are still Pakistani embassies so to speak, but it is the Chinese who are in charge of the visa sections. Nobody gets a visa without their approval.
Migrants from various cultures and countries have populated Balochistan. The legacy of Bahria Town’s Malik Riaz continues. Statues of Riaz are found on nearly every roundabout and the builder and his team are now planning Bahria Towns on the moon and on Mars.
The rest of the world has also changed. Due to the unprecedented rate with which Pakistani and Indian populations have increased in Germany and Britain, their native populations have become diminished. Pakistani, Indians and Bangladeshis have set up their coalition governments in those countries — just like when in the past the Westerners used to rule our parts of the world.
China has also cut a tacit deal with India: The former has given the latter access to the rest of the world through Pakistan.
If this sounds like just imagination, then you know what they say: the imagined is what turns into a dream. And sometimes dreams can come true.
By Asghar Nadeem Syed: The writer is an Urdu playwright and poet. This essay was translated by Peerzada Salman
KARACHI: A radical overhaul of Pakistan’s communications framework appears to be on the cards — or at least that is what Beijing and Islamabad have envisioned under their Long Term Plan (LTP) for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
A closer examination of the LTP document obtained in June by Dawn reveals intentions for a revamped communications framework, which includes components such as a fibre optic cable connecting Pakistan and China, a new submarine landing station for internet traffic flow, and digital TV for all.
The roadmap, which was developed from November 2013 to December 2015 by officials and experts from both countries, contains a detailed 21-page outline specific to communications – a plan envisioned to span up to 15 years, starting in 2016 and concluding in 2030.
The most critical component is a new, upgraded fibre optic cable network which spans Pakistan and crosses the border to connect directly with China.
A cross-border venture
As outlined in the master plan, the cross-border fibre optic cable will address multiple challenges faced by China and Pakistan.
Firstly, it says it will handle the anticipated increase in communication between the two countries. With “deepening comprehensive strategic cooperation” comes the need to establish fast, reliable connectivity – and perhaps most critically – communication that is not routed through Europe, the United States or India.
China also has in mind its own increasing international telecommunications service demands which, if not addressed, may end up exposing “a huge gap” in China’s international bandwidth.
If actualised according to the LTP, the new network will be beneficial to Pakistan by improving internet penetration and increasing speed, especially in Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan, regions where internet connectivity has ranged from poor to non-existent. It should also reduce the cost of internet connections.
Additionally, linking with the rest of the world through China will help reduce Pakistan’s dependence on undersea cables that carry the country’s internet traffic. In cases where the undersea cables develop a fault — as has occurred in the past — the document says another route would be in place.
More broadly, the new network would provide landlocked central Asian states a new, shorter and more cost-effective route for connectivity.
A security concern
The existing fibre optic network through which Pakistan connects to the world has been developed by a consortium that has Indian companies either as partners or shareholders.
This is viewed as a security concern e.g. when it comes to surveillance of communication. As recently as January this year, Director General Special Communications Organisation (SCO) Maj Gen Amir Azeem Bajwa informed the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology that some incoming and outbound internet traffic landed in India before being routed to its destinations, posing a security risk for Pakistan.
It appears that by routing through China, the state is planning to reduce such security risks related to India. This would however increase the same risks from China itself. The Chinese model of internet regulation could potentially also impact freedom of speech and access to information for Pakistani users.
Through Khunjerab
The LTP states that the cross-border optical cable will start from China’s Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County and travel 135km to connect to Pakistan. It will then pass through Khunjerab and travels 125km to the town of Sust in Gilgit-Baltistan. The cable then further travels 650km to link to Islamabad. From here, the new cable could link to Pakistan’s existing network.
The project was inaugurated in May 2016 by then prime minister Nawaz Sharif. According to the official CPEC site, the cost of the ongoing construction is an estimated $44 million. As of September 2017, the progress update states that 450km of the total 820km has been laid down and the remaining stretch will be completed by December 2017.
Connecting to Gwadar
It also appears that connectivity till the capital isn’t the end goal in the LTP. The plan also includes carrying out improvements on the 804km long backbone transmission network from Sukkur to Gwadar.
In the long term, a second route of the cable network is scheduled to be constructed anew from Sukkur to Gwadar. This second route spanning 370km is critical to “forming a loop with the existing optical cables to enhance network security”.
From Gwadar to the world
The LTP also envisions a plan to remedy the danger of internet disruption due to any accident at Pakistan’s only submarine cable landing station. Currently, the undersea fibre optic cables that carry all internet traffic connect to one landing station located at Karachi. A major accident at the station can result in disruption of the internet across the entire country.
To address this, a new submarine cable landing station at Gwadar Port is planned to be built to “enhance security of the international communications network in Pakistan”. According to the plan, the Gwadar station would cover an area of about 10,000 square metres.
A feasibility study in the short-term will be followed up by construction from 2021-2030. Chairman of the National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) Viqar Rashid Khan said in September last year that work has already started on the project.
Switch to digital TV
The introduction of terrestrial Digital TV with a network “covering over 90%” of Pakistan’s population is another key project of the LTP, set to be complete by 2020. To this end, Chinese enterprises will provide Pakistan with Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcast (DTMB) technology to enable the switch to digital TV.
This is an indication of Beijing and Islamabad’s enthusiasm to bring an advanced technology like China’s DTMB that allows broadcasting in standard definition and high definition to deliver a larger quantity of TV channels at higher quality.
If the plan is implemented, it will be a major upgrade from terrestrial TV broadcasting in Pakistan. It will also likely have great impact on the media industry, changing revenue models and programming. Cable operators who offer only cheap, low quality connections will also be affected.
According to the LTP, the project is divided into four phases; phase one covering Islamabad and surrounding areas; phase two covering other major cities, such as Karachi and Lahore; phase three entails coverage of other densely populated areas, while the final phase aims to cover all of Pakistan, including remote areas.
In the LTP, Digital TV is noted to be “a cultural transmission carrier” that will introduce Chinese culture to Pakistan. It is stated that eight sets of “programmes” have been determined and more will be added as required. The programmes have not been named.
To this end, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and China’s National Development and Reform Commission had signed an MoU on implementing China’s DTMB network in Pakistan. PTV and ZTE, a multinational telecommunications equipment and systems company headquartered in China, also signed an agreement to carry out pilot projects to implement DTMB in Islamabad and other areas.
According to the CPEC website, a pilot project of DTMB has been completed at a cost of $2 million. The demonstration project is currently “with Chinese side” and is being processed.
E-government expansion
Connectivity is paired with governance in the master plan, which envisions the construction of a large-scale national data centre for “centralised management of e-government data and safe network operation”. The facility is slated to be built in northern Pakistan between 2016 and 2020. It will occupy a total area of 8,000 square metres.
The centre could provide many services and solutions to the government and other key organisations in terms of hosting important data, managing communications, providing internet access, assisting in surveillance, implementing IT applications and delivering online services to citizens. In the long term, the project entails the construction of backup data centres to be built in other cities.
Additionally, the LTP says a network for e-government will be built to establish channels from Islamabad to the provincial governments. Public access to government departments and agencies, including metropolitan departments of different towns and cities will be increased.
Last year, the National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) inaugurated the ‘first ever’ National Data Centre of Pakistan in Islamabad at an event organised by Huawei. In March this year, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Centre of Excellence was inaugurated in Islamabad by Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal and Ambassador of China to Pakistan, Sun Weidong.
Safe living in ‘safe cities’
The communications plan also focuses on urban security, as network infrastructure will be used to prevent criminal and terrorist activities, “through sophisticated monitoring, smart alert systems and visual command and dispatch”.
This will involve the installation of surveillance cameras, explosive detectors and scanners covering major roads, sensitive areas and crowded localities. The information from these devices will be transmitted in real-time to a control centre where staff will monitor, record and take action when necessary.
The plan does not identify who will staff the centre, a key concern related to possible misuse of such technology, and the extent to which China will be involved in internal security.
Listing Peshawar as a starting point, the project will extend to the major cities based on its success. The LTP also identifies an added advantage of the project i.e. assisting in the establishment of a platform to manage public services in safe cities such as digital city management, road transportation management and other systems.
In February this year, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had called on the home, planning and development, police officials and representatives of the Chinese company tasked with executing the Peshawar Safe City project to speed up work on the project. The CM was talking to the vice president of the Chinese company. In March, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government signed multiple agreements with Chinese investment companies in which Smart and Safe City projects worth $2bn were included.
Aside from Peshawar, other Safe City projects are at various stage of completion.
Islamabad’s Safe City project was completed and inaugurated in June last year, although it was approved in 2009 by the PPP government after an agreement with China that included a $124 million soft loan under the condition that equipment would be bought from Chinese companies.
In October last year, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the first phase of Lahore’s Safe City Project had been completed. He said this had been accomplished in collaboration with Chinese company Huawei that was paid Rs12 billion to execute the project.
In May this year, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that Safe City projects were being launched in six big cities of Punjab, aside from the ongoing Lahore project. He said the projects would be complete by 2018.
In August, the Sindh government announced the launch of a “video surveillance project” that would become part of Karachi’s Safe City project. Costing Rs10 billion, a total of 10,000 high-definition cameras will be installed at 2,000 spots in Karachi.
Transformation through training
The LTP states that capacity building and talent cultivation in information and communication technologies will include training 2,000 professionals, of whom 200 will go to China, while the rest will be trained at Chinese training centres in Pakistan.
It is envisioned that the construction of a China-Pakistan Technical Training Centre will form the training base for the telecommunication/technology industry. In the long term, the local training centre may be built into a college or university. In case a training centre cannot be built, the fall-back plan is to have Chinese communication enterprises and Pakistani universities jointly provide technical training.
A mechanism will also be established to train Pakistani technicians with China’s resources, such as training at Chinese institutions of higher learning and institutions of communication equipment enterprises. Exchanges will also extend to top management of Pakistan’s Ministry of Information Technology and China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to share experience and achieve common development across multiple fields.
Amar Ayaz also contributed to this article.
CHINA’S COMMUNICATIONS FOOTPRINT IN PAKISTAN
CMPak operating under the brand name Zong, is owned by China Mobile. It has grown to be the third largest mobile communication operator in Pakistan.
Huawei holds the largest share of the communications equipment market (45%) and cooperates with five major domestic operators. It also has three training centers in Pakistan.
ZTE Corporation has nine branch offices in Pakistan with more than 220 Chinese staff and over 620 local employees. It has cooperative relations with 85 local subcontractors.
THERE is a fear lurking in the shadows of CPEC that a time will soon come when the Chinese will start dictating terms and priorities rather than negotiating them. As an increasing number of Chinese enterprises acquire stakes in Pakistan’s economy, and as the government takes out more and more loans from Chinese state-owned banks for balance of payments support, the space to negotiate and protect our own interests diminishes. Perhaps we have seen a glimpse of what this entails in the recent discussions around the financing arrangements for the $8bn project for the Peshawar-Karachi railway line, when the Chinese insisted they would not share the project with the Asian Development Bank and wanted to implement it on their own. According to Ahsan Iqbal, the minister for planning and development, who oversaw the negotiations, the Chinese “strongly argued that two-sourced financing would create problems and the project would suffer”. So the government gave in to the ‘strongly argued’ position.
If the merits of single-source financing for this project had been evident, it would not have been double-sourced to begin with — and would certainly not have to be ‘strongly argued’ by anyone. Whatever the merits of the two options, the fact that the Chinese were able to push for full control of the project, and prevail, shows that the power of the government to stand its own ground in any engagement is weakening. This is worrisome because the long-term plan for CPEC envisages far greater entry of Chinese capital, both private and state-owned, into almost every sector of Pakistan’s economy, than what most people realise. The amount of leverage that the Chinese will acquire over Pakistan in the years to come will grow exponentially, and there will be many more moments when positions that are ‘strongly argued’ will need to be equally strongly negotiated in order to protect our own enterprises and economic priorities.
So, naturally, all eyes are watching carefully to see how the early phase of this massive undertaking rolls out. The government needs to do more to assure nervous minds that Pakistan’s interests will be strongly pursued as well, and where necessary, the engagement can be halted if it is not perceived to be putting Pakistan’s interests first. Thus far, that assurance has been absent, and we are moving forward with little to no public awareness about what exactly we are getting entangled in. One way for the government to reassure the country that the growing engagement will safeguard Pakistan’s interests is to make the long-term plan public, especially now that we are told it has been finalised. Putting public approval behind itself is the best way for the government to strengthen its own negotiating position. Let CPEC be the train to prosperity for both countries, and let them ride it together.
The UN-sponsored World Happiness Report 2017 ranks China at 79, Pakistan at 80 and India 122 among 155 countries. A Forbes magazine analysis attributed the Pakistani population’s significantly higher ‘happiness’ than India’s to two factors: greater economic freedom and larger government expenditures. Such expenditures have been made possible mostly by the CPEC project.
Pakistani ‘happiness’ can be further enhanced if the country can efficiently execute the CPEC infrastructure projects and extend these investments to social infrastructure and the real economy. So far, despite glitches, CPEC implementation is proceeding well. But Pakistan must address three major issues. Keep reading 》》》》 https://www.dawn.com/news/1324283/double-happiness
THE lack of political consensus and insecurity would be two major challenges towards the implementation of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. Failure to address these irritants will continue to affect Pakistan’s trade and economic engagement with countries in the region, thus negatively impacting national development.
The need to address these challenges has never been so important as now, when Pakistan is set to join the race for economic development and regional connectivity. Chinese scholars see this emerging regional connectivity as tantamount to reshaping the region’s outlook, with Pakistan holding a central position.
In that regard, a consensus reached among Pakistan’s political leadership to set up a special bicameral parliamentary committee for regular oversight of the CPEC project is a positive move. If the committee becomes an active forum, it will certainly help address the concerns of all the provinces and political parties. As the government has a history of setting up ‘non-delivering’ committees, one can only hope that things will be better this time. A non-functional oversight committee will also be detrimental for policy and the execution sustainability of the CPEC project. The corridor will take at least two decades to be completed and during this time several governments will change in Pakistan.
There is hope that the CPEC will change the regional economic and strategic environment.
This writer’s recent interactions with Chinese scholars and officials suggested the latter are extremely enthusiastic about the CPEC project. They see it as a flagship project of China’s vision of ‘Belt and Road’ — a brief version of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road. They anticipate that a successful implementation of the corridor project will encourage other regional countries, including Central Asian states, to engage in similar projects with China. The next target for China would be to pursue India, Bangladesh and Myanmar for the East Asian corridor. According to some estimates, these routes will benefit more than three billion people of the South and Central Asian regions.
During President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Pakistan, nine of the 51 signed projects were linked to Gwadar. The Chinese regard Gwadar as the Tilbury of Pakistan. The port of Tilbury, once a strategically important deep-sea port of England, still carries huge economic and trade significance. The CPEC and Gwadar port will bring the same prosperity for the whole of Pakistan, which will become a conduit to multiple regions.
Gwadar is the tail of the silk belt, which will connect at Kashgar through different communication networks. The security of the whole corridor and Gwadar is a real concern for China. They are less worried about political differences in Pakistan, which they believe will be resolved with the passage of time.
Both Gwadar and Kashgar are facing multiple security challenges. The Chinese expect that the establishment of five economic zones in Kashgar will completely transform the region and minimise the security risks such as the separatist and militant movements of the Uighurs. While they hope for the same about the separatist movements in Balochistan, their focus is on short- and medium-term security measures for the safety of their workforce and threats to the route and other projects in the country.
Though a declining trend in the number of terrorist attacks in Pakistan continued in April 2015 for the fourth month in a row, major actors of violence are still active. During the month, 50 terrorist attacks took place in the country, 10 less than in the previous month which claimed 70 lives and inflicted injuries on another 89 people. Although Balochistan appeared the more volatile region in recent months, the situation has gradually improved there; compared to 37 in February and 24 in March, 14 terrorist attacks took place there in April this year.
The military operations in parts of the tribal areas and surgical operations by paramilitary forces in Balochistan and Karachi have helped curtail certain violent trends. The increase in sectarian and communal attacks also indicates that the operational capacity of certain violent groups has not been reduced. The terrorist infrastructure still exists inside and outside the borders, which will continue to pose a threat.
After work starts on the CPEC, internal security sensitivities will increase where even a single terrorist attack after a lull will increase the level of insecurity and damage the gains on the security front. The bigger challenge for the security establishment will remain the rooting out of the terrorist infrastructure in the country.
As far as the safety of the Chinese workforce is concerned, Pakistan can meet this challenge. The army has already announced the creation of a 10,000-man special force for protecting the development projects to be carried out under the CPEC. According to media reports, the new force, named the Special Security Division, will comprise nine army battalions and six wings of paramilitary forces — the Rangers and the Frontier Corps. A two-star general will head the special force.
There is hope that the CPEC will change the regional economic and strategic environment. Specifically, in the Pakistan-Afghanistan perspective, better understanding on security and geo-economic issues is required for the safety of the corridor, protecting it from local, regional and global non-state and state actors. There are major concerns about the Kunar and Nuristan provinces of Afghanistan, where multiple terrorist groups — including Al Qaeda, the self-styled Islamic State, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, the Movement of Islamic Uzbekistan and the Turkestan Islamic Party, etc — are concentrated. These groups can pose a direct threat to the CPEC in Pakistan’s northern region.
A better understanding between Islamabad and Kabul is also imperative to achieve border security. At the same time, peace and stability in Afghanistan are also needed if China and Pakistan want to maximise the benefits of the CPEC. Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif and army chief Gen Raheel Sharif visited Kabul just after President Ashraf Ghani returned from India. That indicates that both sides want to keep the trust and optimism intact. The prime minister’s statement denouncing the Afghan Taliban’s spring offensive is a positive gesture. Perhaps this is also a positive sign for the prospects of peace and reconciliation between the Afghanistan government and the Taliban.
Economic corridor challenges
by Muhammad Amir Rana, dawn.com
The writer is a security analyst.
When a society passes through critical crises, alternative systems emerge to tackle the situation. Reformers try to repair the broken system and make it functional again. On the other hand, revolutionaries and radicals want to completely abolish old institutions and replace them with new ones that are based on their ideology.
After developing an understanding of the society and its problems, philosophers, thinkers and intellectuals present ideas and thoughts to change the social fabric. The role of philosophers became crucial and effective in Chinese history whenever the society faced political, social and economic difficulties.
The famous philosopher who presented innovative ideas to control the crises and to transform the society was Confucius, who was born in 551BC at Lu (Northern China). After completing his education, he wandered from one state to another in search of employment as he wanted to implement his ideas through state authority. But he failed to get a job and returned home disappointed.
We love Chinese food and culture, how about some Chinese philosophy?
Later, when he became a teacher, he attracted students and disciples who were eager to learn his brand of philosophy. He established an academy, which was an innovation because there was no such educational institution in China at the time. Previously, education was a privilege only for children from the nobility, but his academy was open to the rich and poor alike. This showed his belief in social equality. He introduced a curriculum which included poetry, history, politics, music and sports with the objective of producing educated and well-rounded people for a model society.
Confucius, like Socrates, did not write anything but verbally transmitted his knowledge to his students. Later, his disciples collected his sayings in the form of a book entitled Annalex. Through this book, we can study the philosophy and ideology of Confucius which emphasises the creation of a class of morally and ethically sound bureaucrats. He believed that the three qualities imperative for government officials were kindness, courtesy and compassion.
He wanted them to be appointed on the basis of their intelligence and merit, and not by right of birth or because they belonged to a privileged family. Thirdly, he believed that they should have the determination and courage to implement law and order, and perform their duties without any fear of higher authorities. Candidates appearing in the examination for bureaucracy or civil service had to learn and memorise the ideas and teachings of Confucius as part of the curriculum.
Confucius also laid stress on maintaining the hierarchical order of the society. In a family, children should obey their parents and look after them in their old age. Since there was no system of social security for the elderly, this ensured that the family would be morally bound to take care of their elderly parents and grandparents.
He highlighted ancestry and the importance of linking the past to the present. He wanted people to obey their superiors and ultimately the ruler. Successive Chinese ruling dynasties adopted the philosophy of Confucius to control social and political problems and to establish their domination.
Is the philosophy or ideas of Confucius relevant today or not? In Pakistan, moral and ethical values have declined and thus corruption, lawlessness, disorder and anarchy have been unleashed. There is increased unemployment leading to an increased crime rate. The bureaucracy trained and educated on principles of colonialism is inefficient and corrupt, arrogant, rude and anti-people.
The society needs to learn moral values as a solution to these problems. Confucius’ philosophy is not based on any religious or spiritual authority but purely on a secular concept of meritocracy. Perhaps our society requires such moral and ethical values to restore honesty, piety, dignity and compassion.
Past present: What Confucius taught us
by Mubarak Ali, dawn.com
China and Pakistan are solidifying plans to create a new “economic corridor” between their two nations. The three-day visit to Beijing was Hussain’s first official trip abroad since assuming the presidency. During his visit, Hussain met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in talks designed to underline the historically close ties between the two countries. “Friendship with China is the most important pillar of our foreign policy and security policy,” Hussain said just before his meeting with Xi.
Besides emphasizing China and Pakistan’s generally close ties, Hussain’s trip was focused on the new China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The idea was first proposed during a visit to Pakistan last May by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Hussain has embraced the idea as well, predicting that the “project is going to be a monument of the century. It will benefit not only Pakistan and China, but also the whole region with billions of people.”
According to Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Reform, China and Pakistan expect to sign cooperation agreements on projects to enhance transportation and trade during Hussain’s visit. Such projects include construction of an airport at the Chinese-controlled port of Gwadar and upgrades to roads and railways. “In the past, the economic relationship could not match the political one. Now the leadership on both sides has realized that we have to bridge that gap,” Iqbal told the Wall Street Journal.
In addition to building infrastructure, China Daily predicted increased cooperation “in the industrial, agricultural, mining, financial, telecommunication and service sectors.” For its part, Pakistan’s government is especially keen for China to help develop the energy sector in order to alleviate crippling power shortages. China has already committed $6.5 billion to build a new nuclear power plant in Karachi.
The list of projects to be completed in Pakistan is just the beginning. China has wider ambitions for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. According to Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying, the corridor will “serve as a driver for connectivity between South Asia and East Asia.” Mushahid Hussain, chairman of the Pakistan-China Institute, told China Daily that the economic corridor “will play a crucial role in regional integration of the ‘Greater South Asia’, which includes China, Iran, Afghanistan, and stretches all the way to Myanmar.”
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is one of many examples of China trying to enhance its economic integration with countries to its west. There are also plans to set up a Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor. On an even larger scale, the “new silk road” and “maritime silk road” represent complementary efforts to build up infrastructure for trade and transportation between China and Central Asia.
The end goals are twofold. First, China envisions its western transportation networks as an alternate route for oil and other energy sources. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, for example, is expected to include construction of an oil pipeline from Gwadar’s port to northwestern China. China has also completed a pipeline from Kazakhstan, through which it imported over 86 million barrels of oil in 2013, and one from Turkmenistan. The “maritime silk road,” meanwhile, is expected to increase security for China’s shipping lanes through the Indian Ocean and South China Sea. The development of transportation networks to the west of China helps Beijing diversify energy sources and trade routes.
Second, China’s western regions are underdeveloped compared to the eastern coastal areas. By focusing on westward trade, China hopes to spark a general economic boom in the west, especially in Xinjiang province. Beijing hopes that increased economic development and prosperity will help mollify the grievances of the native Uyghur population. Unrest has been increasing in the past year—Kashgar, the Chinese end of the new China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, has been the site of several incidents of violence in recent months. It’s long been Beijing’s hope that bringing economic benefits to restive regions can help ameliorate religious and ethnic tensions.
To achieve these goals, Beijing has been reaching out to new potential partners, including recent overtures to Sri Lanka and India. However, China would naturally focus special attention on implementing its plan with the cooperation of a long-time diplomatic partner like Pakistan. As China Daily pointed out, increased economic interaction will also help support China and Pakistan’s longtime strategic and diplomatic cooperation. Should Pakistan reap the economic benefits of the new corridor, it could boost Islamabad’s regional power and prestige—and it can only help Beijing to see the influence of a long-time ally increase.
