ISLAMABAD – US top government official makes surprise demands from Chinaregarding Pakistani debts wipe off.
USA asked China to wipe off or rework what it termed “unsustainable andunfair” debt of Pakistan as it once again reiterated questions over theopaqueness in the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC).
The outgoing US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asiasaid, “At a time of crisis like Covid-19, it is really incumbent on Chinato take steps to alleviate the burden that this predatory, unsustainableand unfair lending is going to cause to Pakistan.”——————————
While talking to the media from South and Central Asia at a farewell newsgathering, she said, “We hope China will join in either waving off debt orrenegotiating these loans and creating a fair and transparent deal forPakistani people.”
Such remarks by Wells and the US have been raised multiple times in thepast and questioned CPEC while China has always rejected such claims andasked the US to match the assistance to Pakistan.
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Wells, who will be retiring at the end of this week, said that they supportCPEC and other such projects but only after they meet global standards, aswell as environmental and labor standards.
She said, “I enumerated my concerns and the United States government’sconcerns over CPEC, over the lack of transparency involved in the project,over the unfair rates of profits that are guaranteed to Chinese stateorganizations to the distortions it caused in the Pakistani economyincluding by the massive imbalance in the trade Pakistan now has withChina.”
