China and Pakistan, two countries about which are often talked about. While China often tries to prove itself as the ‘Iron Brother’ of Pakistan, Pakistan also does not hold back from praising its elder brother. But now there has been a rift in their relationship. According to an opinion article, there is a lot of tension between Pakistan and China these days. This tension is so high that now the projects of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are also getting in trouble. No one knows what its future will be now.
Big trouble for Pakistan CPEC
CPEC has already faced criticism from Pakistan’s media and a certain section. Funding for many projects has always been under the scanner. Critics are eyeing several mega projects that are under the aegis of CPEC. CPEC was announced in the year 2015. It was then called a gamechanger. But in reality this CPEC is becoming a big problem for Pakistan.
A section in Pakistan believes that because of this favorite project of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the country has been burdened with debt. Also, no progress has been made in the last few years in the projects of CPEC. These projects are where they are. This thing is also very important to a section of Pakistan, only a few countries, including China, want to invest here.
Pakistan’s rail project becomes a neck bone
Fabian Bausaert, a geopolitical analyst at Modern Diplomacy, has written an article. In this article, he has said that there have been some meetings recently between the officials of Pakistan and China. Due to COVID-19, CPEC projects have been affected significantly and now Pakistan’s expectations have also come down.
Due to this, there has been a continuous round of meetings. According to Bausart, for the past several years, Pakistan has been shown the lollipop of the main line-1 project of $ 8.6 million.
This project is the main project of Pakistan Railways. While Pakistan is constantly appealing to China to fund this project. At the same time, there has been no promise from China about the project.
It is believed that China is avoiding funding this rail project. He fears that the money invested in the project may be wasted due to local politics.
Tensions in both countries regarding projects
The Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) is overseen by CPEC. This committee is headed by the planning minister of Pakistan and also the vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of China. The first meeting of the JCC was held in August 2013. After this several meetings took place and the last meeting was held in November 2019. The 10th meeting was to be held in early 2020.
The article claimed that this meeting was canceled due to the growing tension between Pakistan and China. According to Fabian, there was tension between the two countries regarding the projects.
Some reports have said that China is upset because of this mega rail line project, it is not. There are many projects that continue in the Special Economic Zones. In the second phase of CPEC, which was to be held between 2020 and 2025, many Chinese companies were going to produce some special things in Pakistan.
Pakistan had hopes from Pakistan
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is adamant that Pakistan will no longer get any commercial loan of any kind. In such a situation, Pakistan’s eyes were solely on China for its project. Fabian has stated in its report that there are 17 projects which are worth 13 billion dollars and which are to be completed under CPEC. At the same time, there are 21 projects which are incomplete and costing $ 12 billion. These projects also include the project of Gwadar Port. Apart from this, work on Eastbay Expressway and Thakot-Raikot section is also stuck.
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