With CPEC and other projects China slowly dominating over debt ridden Pak
News | November 15, 2018 23:08 ISTWith CPEC and other projects China slowly dominating over debt ridden Pak
With CPEC and other projects China slowly dominating over debt ridden Pak
Cash-strapped Pakistan has formally approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package as it reeled under serious economic crisis.
After the recent visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to Saudi Arabia, it was announced that Riyadh will be the third "strategic partner" of USD 50 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The CPEC is the flagship project of the multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a pet project of President Xi Jinping aimed at enhancing China’s influence around the world.
India has opposed the CPEC project and protested to China as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
A media report on Monday suggested that Prime Minister Imran Khan's newly elected government plans to renegotiate the agreements with China.
China has already invited Afghanistan -- west to Pakistan -- to join the CPEC. Iran, which is located further west, has expressed interest in joining the project.
According to the report, not only the CPEC projects but local industries related to construction and a large workforce of engineers and labourers were also hit by the situation.
According to a Financial Times' report, Pakistan told China to give it more loans to keep the CPEC alive, the mainstay project of Beijing's ambitious Belt and Road connectivity initiative. It also said Pakistan borrowed some $4 billion from China in the year ending June 2018.
Talking about ways to restore peace in Kashmir at Rajat Sharma's show Aap ki Adalat, the former chief minister said that more trade routes should be opened between India and Pakistan to encourage trade.
"We have a problem there. We have a problem with CPEC, our problems are well known because it completely encroaches on our sovereignty and territorial integrity. And that is not acceptable," said a senior government official.
Sitharaman brought up the issue of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and made it clear that India will not "entertain any thought" of reviewing its stand on it, as it concerned its sovereignty.
His statement comes days after it was reported that Saudi Arabia and Russia were looking at extending a short-term pact to curb oil supplies with a view to check prices.
The controversial USD 50 billion CPEC connects China's Muslim-majority Xinjiang province with Pakistan's Gwadar Port. India has objected to the CPEC as it is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Touted as Xi's pet project, the BRI has become a major stumbling block in India-China relations as the controversial USD 50 billion CPEC has been listed as its "flagship project".
In December, China had unveiled its plans to extend the USD 50 billion CPEC to Afghanistan which has sparked concerns in India.
The CPEC links China's Kashgar in Xinjiang province with Pakistan's Gwadar port in Balochistan through a network of roads, railways and highways.
The CPEC is a network of infrastructure projects that are currently under construction throughout Pakistan that will connect China's Xinjiang province with Gwadar port in Pakistan's Balochistan province.
China said that CPEC is merely an economic cooperation project and that it has not targeted any third party.
Trump administration had yesterday expressed hope that being an all weather ally of Pakistan, China could help convince the country to dismantle terror safe havens.
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