China has categorically rejected suggestions that the China-PakistanEconomic Corridor has any hidden military designs, according to *Voice ofAmerica News*link>.
The economic corridor is a multi-billion dollar project between China andPakistan, as Beijing plans to build ports, highways, motorways, railwaysand power plants throughout Pakistan as part of the mega initiative.
The expansion and operations of the deep-sea port of Gwadar, located in thesouth of Pakistan on the Arabian Sea, is at the heart of the $63 billionproject. The strategically located port is operated by a Chinese company.
China has positioned CPEC as the flagship project of its $1-trillion globalBelt and Road Initiative, or BRI, championed by Chinese President XiJinping.
“I want to make it very clear, BRI initiative and with CPEC under it, it’spurely a commercial development project. We don’t have any kind of militaryor strategic design for that,” Chinese ambassador to Islamabad Yao Jingtold *VOA*.
While speaking to the American news website, the Chinese diplomat urged theUnited States and India to “come to the CPEC project” and “witness theprogress on the ground” for themselves, saying it will enable them overcomemisunderstandings related to the project.
“There are some kind of doubts that may be 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 reiterated that defense cooperation between Pakistan andChina had existed for decades. “We don’t want to make the CPEC as such akind of platform,” the ambassador emphasised.
However, he added, it is “natural and understandable” that the project’smassive size and design raised doubts and suspicions” about its aims.
“Basically, it is for China and Pakistan to make this project a successfuleconomic project, then we can make it clear our intention here,” Jing said.
CPEC aims to link the landlocked western Chinese region of Xinjiang toGwadar, allowing ships carrying China’s oil imports and other goods fromthe Persian Gulf to use a much shorter and secure route and avoid theexisting troubled route through the Strait of Malacca.
In the next five to seven years, officials estimate, CPEC will have createdemployment for half-a-million Pakistanis.
“China will never leave Pakistan. I shall say we have confidence in thefuture of Pakistan,” said Chinese Ambassador Jing.