China-Pakistan Economic Corridor - The politico-strategic dimension.

Byline: Maham s Gillani

The signing of civil nuclear deal between the United States and India in 2008 ushered in a period of intimate relations between the two countries. The period witnessed consolidation of Indo-US ties in the political, economic as well as strategic realms. This had far-reaching implications for the strategic and political landscape of South Asia in two ways. First, in a move to check the burgeoning clout of China through building the capacity of India, the US moved away from Pakistan-which was previously deemed its principal non-NATO ally in the post-9/11 period. Second, as a direct corollary of receiving political and strategic support from the US, the Indian government was emboldened with regard to its power ambitions in the region as well as foreign policy vis-a-vis Pakistan. It was against this backdrop that Pakistan and China were spurred to augment their relationship in a bid to balance or counter the development of a perilous nexus between the US and India in the region.

The new phase of Sino-Pakistan partnership culminated with the signing of the agreement to build the all-important China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in 2015. The CPEC initiative primarily entails development of mega infrastructure, transport, industrial, and energy projects inside Pakistan through Chinese investments totally close to $60 billion over the next 10 to 15 years. It also promises deeper cooperation between the neighbouring countries-which are termed all-weather friends-in the socio-cultural domain. Nevertheless, the main objective of the project was to furnish China with access to the Indian Ocean through a network of links between Chinese city of Kashgar with the strategically momentous Gwadar Port. This would fundamentally mitigate Chinese reliance on the Strait of Malacca. While the project offers strategic dividends to China, it also betokens widespread economic development in Pakistan by virtue of augmented road and railway links, power generation, industrial growth, employment generation, and so on and so forth. These improvements are expected to induce the process of modernisation and, by the same token, bring about greater political stability in Pakistan-which has been marred by terrorism emanating from within as well as outside its territory during the last decade.

Pakistan can get further mileage from the CPEC project if it is effectively implemented and, more importantly, integrated into a prudent policy framework at...