*WASHINGTON: *The United States on Thursday warned Pakistan that it facedlong-term economic damage with little return if China keeps pursuing itsgiant infrastructure push.
The top US diplomat for South Asia said the China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC) — heralded as a game-changer by both Asian countries —would profit only Beijing, adding that the United States offered a bettermodel.
“It’s clear, or it needs to be clear, that CPEC is not about aid,” saidAlice Wells, the acting assistant secretary of state for South Asia.
She noted that the multibillion-dollar initiative was driven bynon-concessionary loans, with Chinese companies sending their own labourand material.
“CPEC relies primarily on Chinese workers and supplies, even amid risingunemployment in Pakistan,” Wells said at the Woodrow Wilson InternationalCenter for Scholars.
The corridor “is going to take a growing toll on the Pakistan economy,especially when the bulk of payments start to come due in the next four tosix years,” she said.
“Even if loan payments are deferred, they are going to continue to hangover Pakistan’s economic development potential, hamstringing Prime Minister(Imran) Khan’s reform agenda,” she said.
The United States has gone on the offensive against China’s Belt and RoadInitiative, a signature project of President Xi Jinping which aims to buildports, highways and railways around the world.
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But Wells’ speech was unusually specific in warning of risks to Pakistan, ahistoric ally of the United States which has had a turbulent relationshipwith Washington in recent years over Islamabad’s alleged ties with AfghanTaliban.
While acknowledging that the United States could not come to Pakistan withoffers from state-run companies, Wells said private US investment, coupledwith US grants, would improve the troubled economy’s fundamentals.
“There is a different model,” she said. “Worldwide we see that US companiesbring more than just capital; they bring values, processes and expertisethat build the capacities of local economies.”
She pointed to interest in Pakistan by US companies including Uber, ExxonMobil, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, with the soft-drink makers together investing$1.3 billion in the country.
China’s main promises in Pakistan include the development of Gwadar on theArabian Sea into a world-class port.
Beijing hopes to link Gwadar to the western Chinese region of Xinjiang,giving the world’s second largest economy more access to the oil-richMiddle East and reducing reliance on the dispute-ridden South China Sea. -APP/AFP
