Alice's (mis)adventures.

Byline: Sohaib R. Malik

IF stirring controversies is part of the present-day diplomat's job, then it sits somewhere on top of Alice Wells' job description at the US Department of State. Since Pakistan shrugged off the concerns she voiced about CPEC from Washington, the diplomat left the comforts of her home to travel to the Pakistani capital with more revelations.

Unsurprisingly, the ensuing debate earned her no accolades but scathing criticism from Beijing and Islamabad. Besides, it left many Pakistanis - including this writer, who considers CPEC as an economic opportunity for the country - wondering if they could distil this diplomatic hubbub for some valuable insights.

Ambassador Wells charged CPEC in November 2019 with poor commercial viability and lack of transparency. She claimed Pakistan owed '$15bn debt to Beijing and $6.7bn to Chinese commercial banks'.

Is the Beijing-Washington spat over CPEC a welcome development for the common Pakistani?

A day after, the minister for planning, Asad Umar, disputed those figures by disclosing that the public debt to China stood at $18bn. Of that, $4.9bn relates to CPEC projects and the rest was borrowed from the Chinese government and commercial banks to stabilise forex reserves and finance trade deficit.

A few weeks later, the Chinese embassy in IslamAabad in a rebuttal to Wells' claims stated that Beijing had provided $5.9bn of concessional loans, booked as public debt, for CPEC's transportation projects. AdAAdAiAAtionally, Chinese companies and their partners inAAvested $12.8 in the energy sector and are themselves responsible for their ventures' commercial viability.

Who will dispute that numbers don't lie, but they are utterly deceptive when cherry-picked - and that's how this exchange appears to have unfolded in some aspects. Regardless, the public statements of Umar and the Chinese embassy suggest that the amount owed to the Chinese government, commercial banks and investors combined is nearly $30bn. The breakdown: concessional loans of $6bn for public infrastructure projects; $13bn of public debt borrowed from the Chinese government and banks; and about $11bn of equity and commercial loans for CPEC's power project. The volume may grow in the coming years. For instance, the ML-I project to upgrade the railway between Karachi and Peshawar at an estimated cost of $8.2bn alone will have a major impact.

Before we Pakistanis heed Wells' advice and pose 'tough questions' to our government and...