ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) is a bilateral economic project and has no military dimensions.
Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said this at the weekly mediabriefing here on Thursday when asked about a US media report that allegedthat China has hatched a secret plan to build fighter jets and othermilitary hardware in Pakistan as part of the USD 60 billion project.
The Islamabad datelined report in the New York Times said Pakistani AirForce and Chinese officials were putting the final touches to the secretproposal. China last week dismissed as untrue the report.Responding to thereport, Faisal said the CPEC is an economic project between Pakistan andChina, the Dawn reported.
“The CPEC has helped Pakistan improve its economy, particularly energy andinfrastructure sectors have improved under it. The CPEC is a bilateraleconomic project, which is not against any country, he was quoted as sayingby the daily.
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The CPEC, which connects Gwadar Port in Balochistan with China’s Xinjiangprovince, is the flagship project of Chinese President Xi Jinping’sambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).All-weather friends and closeallies, China and Pakistan have been jointly building the J-17 Thunder, asingle seater multi-role combat aircraft. Pakistan has been eyeing a numberof new advanced Chinese jets including the stealth fighter.
