NEW YORK/ISLAMABAD – Pakistani Air Force and Chinese officials are puttingthe final touches on a plan to expand Pakistan’s building of Chinesefighter jets, weaponry and other hardware, The New York Times reportedThursday in a long dispatch claiming that Beijing’s “Belt and Road” planwas taking a “military turn”.
The dispatch said that the newspaper had “reviewed” the confidential planwhich it says also envisages the cooperation between China and Pakistan inspace.
“All those military projects were designated as part of China’s Belt andRoad Initiative, a $1 trillion chain of infrastructure developmentprogrammes stretching across some 70 countries, built and financed byBeijing,” Times’ correspondent Maria Abi-Habib wrote from Islamabad.
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Pointing out that Chinese officials had insisted that the Belt and Road waspurely an economic project with peaceful intent, the Times said, “But withits plan for Pakistan, China is for the first time explicitly tying a Beltand Road proposal to its military ambitions — and confirming the concernsof a host of nations who suspect the infrastructure initiative is reallyabout helping China project armed might.
“As China’s strategically located and nuclear-armed neighbour, Pakistan hasbeen the leading example of how the Chinese projects are being used to giveBeijing both favour and leverage among its clients, correspondent Abi-Habibwrote.
