{"id":302780,"date":"2018-09-17T18:25:41","date_gmt":"2018-09-17T18:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=302780"},"modified":"2018-09-19T19:42:44","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T19:42:44","slug":"china-is-a-cornerstone-of-paks-foreign-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/china-is-a-cornerstone-of-paks-foreign-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018China is a cornerstone of Pak\u2019s foreign policy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>With cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan taking over as Pakistan\u2019s Prime Minister with the support of some religio-political parties and others, voices began to be heard that the deal for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) might be renegotiated as it was considered not being in the long term interest of Islamabad. Those who thought on these lines must revise their opinion now. They were hoping against hope. The new government in Islamabad has re-emphasised the significance of the China factor in Pakistan\u2019s foreign policy with CPEC to remain as its component. <\/span><\/p>\n

Khan highlighted his country\u2019s all weather friendly relations with China during a meeting with Chinese Foreign\u00a0\u00a0Minister Wang Yi, who visited Islamabad soon after the change of government in Pakistan. In Khan\u2019s own words, \u201cFriendship with China is a cornerstone of Pakistan\u2019s foreign policy\u201d. The two leaders described CPEC as being of \u201cmutual benefit of the people of both countries\u201d. However, third country investors will also be invited to join the $60 billion project, which will acquire two new aspects to it — socio-economic and regional development. <\/span><\/p>\n

New calculations began to be made with regard to CPEC\u2019s future and the China factor in Pakistan\u2019s foreign policy after the UK\u2019s Financial Times carried a report quoting Khan\u2019s Adviser on Commerce Textile, Industry & Production and Investment Abdul Razzak Dawood. The report had it that \u201cthe previous government did a bad job negotiating with China on CPEC; they didn\u2019t do their homework correctly and didn\u2019t negotiate correctly so they gave away a lot.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

In Dawood\u2019s opinion, \u201cChinese companies received tax breaks and have an undue advantage in Pakistan; this is one of the things we\u2019re looking at because it\u2019s not fair that Pakistan companies should be disadvantaged.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Elaborating his viewpoint, Dawood pointed out, \u201cI think we should put everything on hold for a year so we can get our act together. Perhaps, we can stretch CPEC out over another five years or so.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Dawood\u2019s remarks could not be taken lightly as he is a renowned businessmen, who founded Descon Engineering, involved in engineering and construction, chemical, power and inspection projects and, perhaps, the first Pakistani multinational operating in six countries. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Pakistani leader\u2019s clarification that he was quoted out of the context was not taken seriously till Imran Khan reiterated his government\u2019s commitment on implementing the CPEC deal during the Chinese Foreign Minister\u2019s visit to Pakistan. China, however, does not want CPEC to remain confined to Pakistan. The economic corridor project will reportedly be extended to Afghanistan and beyond obviously to strengthen Chinese presence in the strategically significant region ostensibly on the pretext of creating job opportunities. There is also a plan to involve a number of other countries too, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Russia, in the SEZ\u2019s (special economic zones). <\/span><\/p>\n

CPEC is by far the largest and most ambitious part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), aimed at connecting Asia and Europe along the ancient silk road. It also includes a huge expansion of Pakistan\u2019s Gwadar port in Baluchistan province as well as increasing road and rail links and setting up $30 billion worth of power plants. <\/span><\/p>\n

Clarifications by Razzak Dawood and glorification of CPEC by Imran Khan notwithstanding, there are serious reservations among certain groups in Pakistan with regard to CPEC. Pakistan\u2019s religio-political parties, particularly, some of which are now part of the government headed by Khan have always been opposed to China\u2019s expanding footprint on Pakistani soil owing to the various kinds of threats involved, including transformation of the socio-cultural reality in Pakistan These parties have been opposed to the harsh treatment meted out to Uyghur Muslims in China\u2019s Xinjiang province. <\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span>here is no commonality in the views of these religio-political parties and those of the Pakistan army on the Uyghur movement, the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which can be understood from the remarks of Pakistan army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, who told the visiting Chinese Foreign Minister that his country was firmly committed to the cause of eliminating the ETIM as part of its counterterrorism drive. <\/span><\/p>\n

Some people in Pakistan see the China-funded CPEC as the arrival of a new East India Company to subjugate their country on the pretext of helping it become a manufacturing and export hub. Obviously, the billions of dollars the Chinese will be investing in this mega scheme cannot be without a long-term objective. Interestingly, they will be accomplishing this task with the help of the Pakistan army, which has reportedly raised a Special Security Division comprising 15000 troops to provide security to the Chinese working in the various CPEC projects. <\/span><\/p>\n

Yet the anti-Chinese allies of the Imran Khan government are keeping quiet. Perhaps, they believe that ideological differences can be kept aside so long as Pakistan is getting benefited economically, strategically and otherwise. Over 30 per cent projects linked to the CPEC process are located in Baluchistan, the most backward province of Pakistan. Eighteen of the 22 projects falling within the framework of CPEC involve investment and financial aid. Only four such projects will be implemented with the help of concessional loans. Nine of the CPEC related projects have already been completed and 13 are in the process of coming up. Pakistan has already benefited with the creation of nearly one lakh new jobs with an investment of $19 billion. <\/span><\/p>\n

CPEC, however, has serious implications for India as the economic corridor passes through Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. \u201cThe CPEC passing through Pakistan-occupied- Kashmir challenges Indian sovereignty,\u201d said the Union Defence Ministry in its annual report submitted to Parliament. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed India\u2019s serious concerns over CPEC when he met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in September last year but in vain. Once the CPEC plan begins to be implemented in Afghanistan and then in Iran, as planned, it will have far more serious implications for India. <\/span><\/p>\n

Pakistan will continue to nurture its relations with China also because of the US getting distanced from Islamabad on the issue of fighting terrorist elements. <\/span><\/p>\n

A new angle is coming up as Russia and many countries in Europe too are reportedly showing interest in the Chinese economic initiative owing to negative signals from the US administration under President Donald Trump. Under the prevailing circumstances, Pakistan obviously cannot weaken the China factor in its foreign policy. But all this means a serious challenge for India\u2019s foreign policy managers. Are they listening?<\/span><\/p>\n

LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan taking over as Pakistan\u2019s Prime Minister with the support of some religio-political parties and others, voices began to be heard that the deal for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) might be renegotiated as it was considered not being in the long term interest of Islamabad. Those who thought on these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":302782,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,2205],"tags":[666,1743,3867,297,48],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302780"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302780"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":302981,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302780\/revisions\/302981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/302782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}