Learn bits
World Affairs
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 

More Related Current Affairs View All

05 Mar

First-ever comprehensive survey of India’s river dolphins

'Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the results of the first-ever comprehensive population estimation of riverine dolphins – Gangetic and Indus dolphins – done in In

Read More

05 Mar

Arresting women at night

'The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court in Deepa versus S. Vijayalakshmi and Others ruled that the legal provision in the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, which

Read More

05 Mar

Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023

'The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) looking to wrap up public consultations on the draft Rules for the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 by Mar

Read More

India’s First Ai-Driven Magazine Generator

Generate Your Custom Current Affairs Magazine using our AI in just 3 steps