ISLAMABAD – China has strongly refuted suggestions its multibillion-dollareconomic corridor now under construction in Pakistan has “hidden” militarydesigns as well.
Beijing has pledged to invest about $63 billion in Pakistan by 2030 todevelop ports, highways, motorways, railways, airports, power plants andother infrastructure in the neighbouring country, traditionally a strongally.
The Chinese have also expanded and operationalised the Pakistani deep waterport of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, which is at the heart of the massivebilateral cooperation, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, orCPEC. The strategically located port is currently being operated by aChinese state-run company.
“I want to make it very clear, Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, and withCPEC under it, it’s purely a commercial development project. We don’t haveany kind of military or strategic design for that,” said Yao Jing, ChineseAmbassador to Islamabad. He made the remarks in an exclusive interview withVOA.
Within five years of finalising and launching CPEC, Jing said 22 “earlyharvest” projects out of the 43 total projects under CPEC have beencompleted or are under construction, with a total investment of around $19billion, the largest influx of foreign investment in Pakistan’s 70-year-oldhistory. The projects have already brought 60,000 local jobs andeffectively addressed the country’s once crippling energy crisis. Powerplants built under the joint venture, officials say, will have added morethan 10,000 megawatts of electricity to the national grid by June, leadingto a surplus of power.
While speaking to VOA, the Chinese diplomat urged the United States andIndia to “come to the CPEC project” and “witness the progress on theground” for themselves, saying it will enable them overcomemisunderstandings vis-a-vis CPEC.
“There are some kind of doubts that maybe there are some things hidden init. I think that when you have an objective lens to look at this projectand to come to the ground to find this progress on the ground then you mayhave a better understanding of what we are doing here,” said Jing.
The Chinese envoy was responding to concerns expressed in Washington andNew Delhi that Beijing could try to turn Gwadar into a military port in thefuture to try to dominate the Indian Ocean.