BEIJING: Since the official launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridorin May 2013, the corridor construction has progressed rapidly during thesefive years and it has been changing with each passing day. People from allwalks of life in Pakistan witnessed the positive changes brought about bythe construction of the China-Pakistan corridor to Pakistan’s domesticeconomy and society and also personally experienced the convenience andbenefits brought by the corridor construction project.

In view of this, consolidating and deepening the current achievements andpromoting the future of corridor construction into a new stage have alsobecome the general consensus of all walks of life in Pakistan, according toan article published by China’s Guangming Daily on Wednesday.The Chinese and Pakistani peoples have reason to believe that theChina-Pakistan consensus in the new era will not be disturbed by all kindsof “clouds” from time to time. The two governments and people will marchforward, cooperate sincerely and look forward to helping each other tofurther promote China and Pakistan. The construction of economic corridorshas moved to a higher level.US Secretary of State Pompeo recently said in an interview with the USmedia that any potential financial bailout provided by the InternationalMonetary Fund to Pakistan should not be used to repay Chinese loans.In fact, this is not the first time that the outside world has sungPakistan’s future economic development and has taken a sideline attack onChina-Pakistan relations.

In recent times, Pakistan has held general elections. Some Western mediahave specifically made a fuss about the CPEC and some China-Pakistancooperation projects. However, high-ranking US officials have issuedofficial statements to the outside world on the Pakistani economic issue insuch an explicit way through the media.Earlier, several Western media reported that the current debt problems inPakistan were related to Chinese investment.However, from the perspective of scientific evidence and data analysis, itis difficult to argue.

According to data released by the Pakistani government, about 42 percent ofPakistan’s external debt comes from multilateral financial institutions,and about 18 percent of its debt comes from the Paris Club.China’s concessional loans account for only about 10 percent of the totalexternal debt, and are much lower than the interest rates of commercialbank loans.In addition, according to a study by experts from the South Asia ResearchCenter of Peking University, Pakistan’s debt to China accounted for 10.4percent of its total external debt, accounting for only a small part of theexternal debt structure.

It is believed that with the further implementation of China-Pakistanpragmatic cooperation, it will continue to help the development of the realeconomy such as the Pakistani manufacturing industry, improve theindustrial chain, and effectively solve the problems of temporary foreignexchange income reduction and trade imbalance. In fact, the history ofChina-Pakistan friendship has always been a common struggle history ofmutual benefit and pragmatic cooperation.The Chinese and Pakistani builders and people from all walks of life whohave in-depth practice in China-Pakistan economic cooperation have the mostsay.People from all walks of life in China and Pakistan generally believe thatthe CPEC will follow the broad consensus reached by the two countries andmove forward steadily to continue to benefit the two peoples.

Recently, Yao Jing, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan met with Imam Khan,Chairman of the Pakistan Justice Movement Party to welcome Pakistan tosmoothly complete the general election, congratulating him for winning thiselection and looking forward to the new government with Pakistan.Imran Khan said that developing friendship with China is the consensus ofthe Palestinian state; the Justice Movement Party supports the “One Belt,One Road” cooperation concept and firmly supports the construction of theChina-Pakistan Economic Corridor.It is believed that corridor cooperation will bring new importantopportunities for the development of Pakistan; After the Justice MovementParty takes office, it will fully engage with China and push forwardbilateral relations.

As mentioned above, as a general consensus between the governments of thetwo countries and people from all walks of life, China-Pakistan sincerecooperation and common development complement each other.Sincere cooperation is the path and way to achieve development, and commondevelopment is the shared vision of both the countries.At the level of sincere cooperation, Imran Khan has repeatedly stated thatthe JEM has attached great importance to relations with China and deeplyappreciates China’s development achievements in more than 40 years.The Justice Movement Party adheres to the philosophy of governing for thepeople and hopes that China will continue to support Pakistan’s economicand social development.It is willing to actively learn from China’s experience in governing thecountry in anti-corruption, poverty alleviation, environmental protection,and urban construction, and benefit the broad masses of the people.

Justice Party leader Asad Umar also said at a recent media symposium thatin view of the many areas in which Pakistan’s current economy needs to beimproved, the new government will commit itself to economic reforms andaddress the long-term existence of the Pakistani economy.The structural problems will be comprehensively used to improve the currenteconomic situation of Pakistan, and the construction of the CPEC will playa key role in this regard.Pakistani domestic experts also said that China is currently Pakistan’slargest investor and largest trading partner, bringing rich and positivepossibilities for Pakistan’s economic development and improvement ofpeople’s livelihood.

With the deepening of the construction of the CPEC, it will attract moreand more capital from inside and outside the country to invest in Pakistan.Pakistan is also expected to realize its location potential and advantagesand become the core of interconnection in South Asia.In response, China will continue to work with the Pakistani side to promotegreater development in the future of the corridor.At the level of achieving common development, China and Pakistan face manycommon historic opportunities and major issues.

Achieving security and stability in South Asia, strengthening regionalinterconnection and building a more active and constructive role in theinternational arena is the goal of China-Pakistan to achieve commondevelopment in the future, and it is also the direction for the twocountries to work together in the future.Since the high-profile announcement and implementation of a new strategyfor Afghanistan and South Asia last year, the United States has continuedto intervene in the affairs of South Asia by using its own political,economic, military strength and advantageous position, and has continuallyand unilaterally raised unreasonable demands on the Pakistani governmentand people. And apply heavy pressure. However, Pakistan has extensiveexperience in safeguarding peace and stability in its own country andregion. It has made painstaking efforts and made great sacrifices. Itdeserves the full understanding, respect and support of the internationalcommunity.In June, Pakistan, as a formal member of the Shanghai CooperationOrganization, participated in the Leaders Summit for the first time, whichindicates that Pakistan will enhance its influence and recognition on theinternational stage through extensive and pragmatic cooperation with othermembers of the SCO. And Pakistan will one day truly achieve stability,prosperity and prosperity, and it is also a long-awaited expectation ofChina as an all-weather strategic partner.Throughout the fundamentals of China-Pakistan pragmatic cooperation, thedeep friendship between the two countries is a historical basis.The all-weather strategic partnership is a political guarantee.

The people’s hearts and minds of the two countries are the emotional bonds,and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor serves as the “Belt and Road”. Theflagship project of the initiative is a hard-won real opportunity.The achievements made in the construction of the China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor in the past five years are sufficient to prove its own value andpositive role.

In the future, it will continue to build infrastructure, promoteemployment, improve people’s livelihood, strengthen cultural exchanges,enhance the internal development of the Pakistani economy andinternationally. We will play a role as a booster in terms ofcompetitiveness and promote the development of a higher level and higherquality in the economic and social development of the Pakistani economy.

Infrastructure construction is a basic element of a country’s economicgrowth. The rapid economic growth, the cultivation of industrialenvironment and the improvement of people’s well-being are rooted in asolid infrastructure network, and the shortage of infrastructure isprecisely the bottleneck of Pakistan’s economic development.In the future, the infrastructure construction that will continue to bepromoted under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor willgreatly meet the requirements of the economy.

The new highway network can shorten the time between urban and rural areasand regions, greatly alleviate traffic congestion in large cities andreduce logistics.The future construction of Gwadar Port will highlight magnetic and clustereffects on domestic and foreign capital, promote Pakistan as a regionaltrans-shipment hub and regional economic center, and improve local poverty.The current situation of insufficient resources for people’s livelihood;the completion of wind power, hydropower, coal power and solar energyprojects in energy cooperation has continuously supplied electricity toPakistan, providing a bright and clean new life for the general publicwhile effectively alleviating energy shortcomings.

Continued improvement of power transmission and distribution links,improvement of energy use rate and stability have also pointed out thedirection for pragmatic cooperation between the two countries.In fact, infrastructure construction is a long-term project that isconducive to the present and will benefit the future. With the continuousrevitalization and development of the Pakistani economy, the dividend ofinfrastructure will also be released to all levels of the Palestiniansociety.The employment problem is a shortcoming that restricts Pakistan’s economicdevelopment and even social stability. It is also an important problem thatthe new government has to solve after it took office.

According to data from the Pakistan Planning Commission, the early harvestproject of the CPEC created 38,000 jobs, including more than 75% are localemployment, and the corridor project is expected to continue to create500,000 jobs in Pakistan in the next five to seven years.The corridor boosts employment not only in terms of quantity, but also inquality. Through systematic vocational training, Pakistan is expected tohave a large-scale industrial workers team in the future.

In addition, the construction of corridors has yielded fruitful results inthe fields of education, health, medical care, etc., especially in theconstruction of underdeveloped areas, helping local people solve the mostbasic drinking, medical and educational difficulties.The two countries will continue to deepen cooperation in this field, andenterprises and institutions will also assume more social responsibilitiesand give ordinary people the opportunity to continuously improve theirliving standards.

The developed industrial system is the symbol of the maturity of the moderneconomy and the vision of the rich and strong that the Pakistani peoplehave been pursuing for generations. Industrial cooperation will become themost promising field in the long-term planning of the corridor.

With the formulation of various industrial parks under the corridor projectand the introduction of relevant policies, more and more enterprises,especially small and medium-sized enterprises from China and Pakistan, havecome to the market through sole proprietorship and joint ventures.

Industrial parks have significant clustering and radiation effects. Localcompanies in Pakistan are expected to fundamentally enhance their strengthin the manufacturing sector, seek a place in the global value chainupstream, and gain more competitive competitiveness in the internationalmarket. – APP