AIRLINK 62.48 Increased By ▲ 2.05 (3.39%)
BOP 5.36 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.19%)
CNERGY 4.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.43%)
DFML 15.50 Increased By ▲ 0.66 (4.45%)
DGKC 66.40 Increased By ▲ 1.60 (2.47%)
FCCL 17.59 Increased By ▲ 0.73 (4.33%)
FFBL 27.70 Increased By ▲ 2.95 (11.92%)
FFL 9.27 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (2.32%)
GGL 10.06 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1%)
HBL 105.70 Increased By ▲ 1.49 (1.43%)
HUBC 122.30 Increased By ▲ 4.78 (4.07%)
HUMNL 6.60 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.92%)
KEL 4.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-1.1%)
KOSM 4.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.97%)
MLCF 36.20 Increased By ▲ 0.79 (2.23%)
OGDC 122.92 Increased By ▲ 0.53 (0.43%)
PAEL 23.00 Increased By ▲ 1.09 (4.97%)
PIAA 29.34 Increased By ▲ 2.05 (7.51%)
PIBTL 5.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-2.36%)
PPL 107.50 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (0.12%)
PRL 27.25 Increased By ▲ 0.74 (2.79%)
PTC 18.07 Increased By ▲ 1.97 (12.24%)
SEARL 53.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.63 (-1.17%)
SNGP 63.21 Increased By ▲ 2.01 (3.28%)
SSGC 10.80 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.47%)
TELE 9.20 Increased By ▲ 0.71 (8.36%)
TPLP 11.44 Increased By ▲ 0.86 (8.13%)
TRG 70.86 Increased By ▲ 0.95 (1.36%)
UNITY 23.62 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (0.47%)
WTL 1.28 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 6,944 Increased By 65.8 (0.96%)
BR30 22,827 Increased By 258.6 (1.15%)
KSE100 67,142 Increased By 594.3 (0.89%)
KSE30 22,090 Increased By 175.1 (0.8%)

The proverbial "deeper than oceans, higher than Himalayas and sweeter than honey" Pakistan-China friendship is now under test to become stronger than steel as well. Pledges worth $46 billion have been committed by China, with the PCEC as their focus.
China's interest is to connect the Gwadar Port to the north-western region of Xinjiang. This is approximately 3000 kilometers that stretch from the Gwadar Port through Kashgar and all the Chinese pledges are either directly linked to building Pakistan's part of the route, or for enabling Pakistan to develop the requisite, supportive infrastructure that can bring the Orient closer to the world.
In a nutshell, all pledges are conditional and completely dependent on the construction of the corridor China to Pakistan. And the building of corridor is contingent upon better security situation in Pakistan especially, in parts of Balochistan and KPK.
Last year, Chinese delegates categorically told Pakistan that the cleaning up of terrorism is a pre-condition for their investments and expertise to flow into the country. Under General Raheel Sharif, the Pakistan Army has done well so far and Operation Zarb-e-Azab has been deemed a success. The key challenge remains tackling insurgency in Balochistan.
The Chinese are not just pumping money and machinery but the influx of Chinese contractors, consultants and engineers is coupled with it. The security of Chinese experts is of paramount importance especially in troubled areas. The killing of 22 workers in Balochistan, a few weeks back, shall be an eye opener for our security apparatus to gauge how fragile is the situation in the country. We have to assure security before really seeing some Chinese miracle working at home.
The political and military leadership should work together to resolve the issues in Balochistan as the latter cannot do this single handedly on a sustainable basis. The need is to use a combination of stick and carrot, as the government ought to give economic opportunities in the deprived areas to let the inhabitants prosper once the Army cleans out insurgents in the short run. Failing this, the Pak-China friendship may remain merely proverbial.
Dozens of MOUs were signed with China by PPPs last government too but nothing has really materialized so far. The difference between PPP and PMLN is Shahbaz Sharif - he is a doer and has gained a reputation of executive infrastructure projects especially in roads, railways and mass transit systems. Zardari was all over the place but his focus was nowhere and the result was lack of execution. While in case of PMLNs leadership the focus is clearly on road and energy infrastructure and projects.
But don't confuse Chinese pledges with investment and don't start the celebrations over such big numbers just yet. The numbers are arbitrary and many of the 51 MOUs signed during the Chinese Presidents visit are mere wishful thinking. Last year when Xi's visit was planned, the talks were of projects worth $34 billion but due to PTIs dharna it was postponed. Few months down the road as the dust settled and with some sanity on political front, the Chinese delegation came up with an even bigger number of $46 billion.
One may wonder whether the PTI sit in actually worked out quite well for the PML-N government! Or if we could have managed to delay the Chinese President's trip by a few more months, could the pledges have crossed $50 billion?
Well, lets not get swayed away with tens of billions of dollar. The reality is different. The commutative investment that has flowed into the country in the past ten years is less than half of what China alone has committed for the coming ten years. Most of the funds pledged will not be in the form of investment anyway, so its not fair to compare apple with oranges. But, leaders in PMLN are rather naively advertising concessionary and commercial loans as investments and aid.
Of the civilian aid committed by the US (which has been the main contributor in the past), less than $5 billion have been spent in the past five years. But China is our best friend and so the PML-N is sure they will happily spend ten times more than the US.
And its not just the PML-N that is banking on the Chinese money; the whole lot of political and military leadership is eyeing it as a game changer for the country and the region. In Xi's address to the joint session of the Parliament, all the parties were present including Imran Khan who thinks 2015 is an election year. Everyone knows the need for building energy and road infrastructure to get the economy back on track. Whoever comes to power after 2018 would like to see China's funding and expertise doing wonders in Pakistan.
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Grab whatever is being offered by the friendly nation; be it investments or concessionary loans. Our energy woes are known to all and we have been desperately trying to create financing for coal, gas, hydel and alternative energy projects from everywhere at whatever rates. Even if the Chinese are providing these on commercial rates; go for it! Build motorways and highways on concessionary government to government loans and if we don't build the capacity to repay we can ask them later to convert them into equity.

Comments

Comments are closed.