Editorial: Dangerous liaisons

It is like rubbing salt into the wounds. The decision of China and Pakistan to invite third parties to participate in the controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that runs through Pakistan-occupied territories is illegal and unacceptable. India has been consistently opposing the $60-billion CPEC on the grounds that the project is being built on territory illegally occupied by Pakistan and that it has been pushing countries towards a debt trap. New Delhi’s concerns are justified as the project infringes on India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The latest move by the neighbours came after a meeting of the CPEC Joint Working Group on International Cooperation and Coordination where Islamabad and Beijing decided to welcome “interested third countries” to join the initiative launched in 2013 as a network of highways, rail links, power plants, manufacturing units and massive infrastructure projects. The CPEC, a key component of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), aims at linking South Western Pakistani city of Gwadar to China’s Xinjiang region through a vast network of highways and railways, passes through Balochistan which Pakistan had occupied forcibly in 1948. China’s brazen disregard for sovereignty concerns repeatedly expressed by India has soured the bilateral relations. The CPEC will dramatically alter the region’s demographic composition and reduce Gilgit-Baltistan to a tinderbox of ethnic and sectarian conflict with grave security consequences for the region. While China has always been very assertive about matters concerning its sovereignty, be it Tibet or Taiwan, it has failed to appreciate India’s concerns over the CPEC which traverses through disputed territory.

It is only by respecting the sovereignty of countries involved can any regional connectivity corridor fulfil its promise. Much like Sri Lanka, Pakistan too is caught in a debt trap due to huge investments in the CPEC and has been facing a serious economic crisis, so much so that it sought a $6-billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund. Islamabad has leased some of its big industrial projects to Chinese firms, which has led to them taking on even more debt – the same vicious cycle that ensnared Sri Lanka. Several studies have talked about how the weak economic indicators of Pakistan might lead to a possibility of the country defaulting on debt repayments, as Chinese loans carry high interest rates. Pakistan’s opposition parties and civil rights activists have accused the CPEC of exploiting the country’s natural resources without providing benefits to local communities. Over the years, concerns have also been expressed about a national fibre-optic network and monitoring and surveillance capabilities to be created in Pakistani cities. Pakistan has tried to bring in investments from other countries such as Saudi Arabia for the project in the past but hasn’t had much success. In recent months, Pakistan has been witnessing a spate of attacks against Chinese workers employed in projects under the CPEC.