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Mahesh

04/11/22 05:49 AM IST

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

In News
  • In a reference to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), at a virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), India’s External Affairs Minister recently reiterated that connectivity projects (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)) should respect sovereignty and territorial integrity.
CPEC 
  • Launched in 2015, the CPEC is the flagship project of the multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a pet project of Chinese President Xi Jinping, aimed at enhancing Beijing’s influence around the world through China-funded infrastructure projects.
  • The 3,000 km-long China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) consists of highways, railways, and pipelines.
  • CPEC eventually aims at linking the city of Gwadar in South Western Pakistan to China’s North Western region Xinjiang through a vast network of highways and railways.
  • The proposed project will be financed by heavily-subsidised loans that will be disbursed to the Government of Pakistan by Chinese banks.
Importance 
  • The agreement is aimed at boosting Chinese investment in Pakistan as well as transferring Chinese industrial capacity.
  • The framework will promote industrialisation and development of economic zones, and initiate, plan, execute, and monitor projects, both in the public as well as the private sectors.
  • The corridor links Xinjiang with Gwadar and also passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) where China is investing in a number of projects.
  • CPEC’s early-harvest projects had transformed Pakistan’s economic landscape, thus laying a solid foundation for sustainable economic growth.
Concerns 
  • As the project passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) it violates universally accepted international norms, principles of openness, transparency and equality
  • Pakistan and China, during a recent CPEC Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting had decided to extend CPEC to interested third countries (most probably Afghanistan).
  • A China that is more accepted and integrated into the rest of the global economy will have a stronger voice in the UN and with individual nations, which may be bad news for India’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
  • Given the hype surrounding the benefits that the CPEC will bring to the region, several experts argue that India must engage with China and Pakistan creatively.
Way Forward 
  • At this moment, India must develop a holistic outlook based on a serious reassessment of the possible benefits and drawbacks of the CPEC project.
  • India could expedite work on its own strategic projects, such as the BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India, and Myanmar Economic Corridor), Chabahar Port and the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor.
Source- Indian Express 

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