ISLAMABAD – Five years have elapsed ever since the China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor initiative (CPEC) was proposed by the Chinese Prime Minister LiKeqiang in May 2013, and changes have been taking place in every corner ofPakistan, including the inauguration of the new Islamabad InternationalAirport.
During the past five years, we travelled many places in Pakistan and werewelcomed with enthusiasm and thoughtful receptions whenever we metPakistani people. Whether rich or poor, we found that the people ofPakistan are quite friendly to Chinese. Pakistan is one of the most trustedcountries and also becoming increasingly significant to many Chinese,whether they are highest top Chinese leaders or ordinary Chinese people ingeneral.
The mainstream of Pakistani media is always positive and supportive ofPak-China relations and the CPEC initiative. Unfortunately, fewer argumentsand negative comments were published and impacted their readers in varyingdegrees, and need to be clarified right here, for some critics have claimedthat CPEC could become another East India Company’ and Pakistan: a Chinesecolony?
What needs to be pointed out is that we experienced several invasions andsuffered a lot in fighting invaders in history, and had bad insinuationswith the word of Colony. Therefore?it’s sad to see that colony was used todescribe Pak-China relations by our few Pakistani brothers.
When it comes to those huge debts mentioned in previous articles, theinternational community should be more worried about Pakistan’s ability torepay them
On the other hand, we believe that Pakistan is a democratic country andthose open discussions are not always harmful to enhance our bilateralrelations, but meanwhile, we also wish to clarify the truth and the facts,instead of fabricating many lies deliberately.
To colonize a country, political, ideological, economical and severalmeasures are implied. While the truth is that Pakistan is an independentcountry and respectfully has its own political system and ideologicalsystem. During the past seven decades, China has never imposed ourpolitical systems or ideology on Pakistan. Now, the discussion comes to theeconomic system, the way we Chinese do business with Pakistani is same asany other countries do business in Pakistan, and all the activities areapproved by the Pakistani government and under the control of Pakistanilegal system.
So how it is possible to make Pakistan a colony of China? Indeed, we neverdeny that there were some Chinese who were involved in wrongdoings inPakistan, but the solution is quite easy and simple i.e. to send them tothe court and receive their own punishments. To be honest, their behaviourwould not be allowed even in China.
Pakistani people are the most genius people that we have ever met in theworld, however, acts of commercial dishonesty, fraudulent trading,temporary deprivation by Pakistanis were regularly reported by Pakistanimedia.
As scholars, we also worry that our government and state-owned enterpriseswon’t be able to recover these huge investments in this regard, for most ofthose funds are majorly collected by taxing every single common Chinesecitizen. When it comes to those huge debts mentioned in previous articles,the international community should be more worried about the repaymentability of Pakistan.
In terms of the projects under the name of CPEC initiatives, all thetreaties were signed and proved by the most talented people from bothsides. As mentioned earlier, it’s not an easy job to do business withPakistan, and how is it possible to cheat so many talented and welleducated Pakistani elites in a legally sound democracy country? In case ourPakistani friends find every single treaty that is unequal, they should gothrough official procedures or bring it to the court, rather than speakingill behind our backs.
Pakistan is a great country with a sound legal system and a time-testeddemocracy system, and we respect Pakistani culture and dignity in thisregard. We, Chinese people, regard Pakistan as a window to understandingthe Islamic world and the gateway to communicate with the entire region.That is why this is a win-win situation and the mutual benefit will meetthe need of two brotherhood countries, and more open discussions are notharmful yet quite necessary for Pak-China future. Last but not least, weChinese people are quite easy to get along with and have no interest tocolonize any country in the world including Pakistan.
BY: *Huazhong TU, Scholar, Tsinghua University & Yunnan Academy of SocialSciences, China. Jiao NIE & Yao WANG, Scholars, Yunnan University, China.*