ISLAMABAD – Chinese Consul General in Karachi Li Bijian elucidatedmisunderstandings pertaining to CPEC. Based on facts and figures, heinformed CPEC is not a debt trap and China is not pursuing regionalcolonization under BRI. Western media and enemy of Pakistan’s prosperityunder CPEC has been trying to sabotage CPEC through false propagation. Healso highlighted the socio-economic development of Pakistan under CPEC.
Chinese Consul General in Karachi Li Bijian on Monday said that there is amisconception about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) thatthrough the project China is setting up a new colony in Pakistan and willeventually take over the country.
He was addressing an international conference titled ‘Role of Media inPoverty Alleviation and Promoting Social Justice’ that opened on Monday atthe Bahria University Karachi Campus.
Organised by the university’s Department of Media Studies, the two-dayevent has been organised in collaboration with the Association of Media &Communication Academic Professionals.
The CG said that people need to understand that out of the total externaldebts on Pakistan, which by the end of the previous year stood at $110billion, only $6 billion was from China.
He added that if you borrow money you have to pay the interest, and Chinais taking around 17 per cent of the interest, and the investment is to bereturned in 15 to 25 years. He also said China is keen on preventingenvironmental hazards, and the coal power plant, a joint venture between aChinese company and a Qatari company with a 51:49 partnership, which hasbeen established at the Port Qasim, is using a cutting-edge technology thatwill reduce emissions. He added that the Chinese company has also plantedover 110,000 plants to make up for the environmental loss.
Li Bijian said the Western media and the forces that want to bring downPakistan and China and damage the trade corridor project are behindanti-CPEC propaganda.
He said that if China was involved in colonialism, what these countrieswere doing in Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bangladesh. He added that if China’smove was colonialism, surely these countries were also doing the same.
He also said power plants built under CPEC had made Pakistan a powersurplus country, but the problem came with the obsolete transmission linesinfrastructure that needed to be renovated at a cost of $10 billion.
He asked where this money will come from if Pakistan does not have it. Hesaid it will be borrowed, and from a business point of view, the investorinvests to make money.
The Chinese consul general said that according to China’s assessment, CPECis more beneficial for the Pakistani people and will help strengthen thecountry’s economy.
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He said phase-I of CPEC was completed, and in phase-II China was joininghands with the local governments to carry out some socio-economic projectsthat will help improve cordial relations with the people of Pakistan, whichis one of the key aspects of the trade corridor project.
When asked what China is expecting from the CPEC project, he said aninvestor invests with the intent to make some money, which is totally okay.
Replying to a query about how the investment from the motorways will bereturned and on what terms, he said he did not know about this because thisinvestment was made by Chinese companies.
Gwadar port: Former State Bank of Pakistan governor Dr Ishrat Husain saidthe development of the Gwadar port was one of the key aspects of the CPECproject.
He said that remote and underprivileged parts of Balochistan will beconnected to the major cities to bring their economy into the mainstream bypromoting their fisheries, horticulture, mining and other sectors.
He also said Pakistan was in a state in which all the stakeholders, whethergovernmental, non-governmental or from the private sector, had to worktogether to uplift the life of the ordinary citizens, and there was no harmin it.
Referring to the coal mining done in Islamkot, he said the investmentthereby Engro had uplifted the status of the natives, as they got jobs,water and electricity, and their lives were much easier than before.
Other speakers who addressed the programme included security andinternational relations expert Ikram Sehgal, Institute of BusinessAdministration Associate Dean Dr Huma Baqai and security analyst ViceAdmiral (retd) Asaf Humayun. The event was moderated by Marine Group ofCompanies Director Aasim Siddique.
