Prime Minister Imran Khan, accompanied by a six-member team, last Thursday is in China on his first official five-day visit after becoming Pakistan's prime minister.
The high point of Imran Khan's visit is his meeting with President Xi Jinping and the distinction of being invited as a keynote speaker at the inauguration of a mega expo among 18 heads of state and government who will be attending the expo.
More than 2,800 companies from 130 countries and regions, and 160,000 buyers from over 80,000 Chinese and foreign companies will participate in the expo.
Before embarking on his maiden visit to China he set his tone to provide a level of comfort to China, making bare the challenges faced by Pakistan and the need for realignment of CPEC and 'Free Trade Agreement' between the two countries.
Speaking to a team of Chinese journalists in Islamabad, Khan had said: "We have a lot to learn from China. China went through a lot of problems that we face right now."
"Like Pakistan, China too had a lot of corruption and poverty. But the way it has dealt with corruption and poverty has been an example for not just Pakistan but for a lot of the developing world."
The prime minister had also stressed the economic potential of the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor (CPEC): "It has given a great opportunity to Pakistan to bring in foreign investment and get out of the difficult economic situation which we are in. Pakistan has enormous potential, but unfortunately through mismanagement, we have not really achieved that potential through poor governance, [and] corruption being one of the main reasons."
The most relevant observation the PM made was on poverty elevation.
"What China has achieved, no country in human history has managed to achieve, getting 700 million people out of poverty in 30 years," he said.
PM Imran said the main plank of his party's manifesto is to bring people out of poverty, and that it was one area where he looked forward to meeting the Chinese leadership and learning from all the various steps taken by China to lift people out of poverty.
China no doubt has emerged as a great economic and political power in so short a time but its mirroring in Pakistan and elsewhere is unrealistic.
China went through an extensive and real revolution and that zeal of revolution has not yet ended. It has only shifted from social and cultural revolution to economic revolution and its policy of containment within its borders to expansion outside its borders.
China has a system of state governance where President Xi and his team of six ministers deliberate and decide on all economic, social, diplomatic and defense matters of the state. Whatever is decided at this high forum is faithfully implemented by layers of state functionaries.
Pakistan's leadership, in a democratic regime of governance, does not have this level of power and independence.
The key issues to be managed by Pakistan with China is an equitable share in the CPEC and fairness in FTA.
The PM underlined: "Pakistan needs to export. Our trade balance with China is imbalanced. We import far, far more than we export to China. We want to get some help in pushing our exports. Our main problem in Pakistan right now is the current account deficit."
China's interest is undoubtedly in mega projects with the engagement of large Chinese companies, whereas Pakistan's priority should be sustainable projects which can generate revenue to settle loans and profitability for development and offers employment opportunities to the youths of the country and projects of social welfare for the masses. This means that Pakistan should divert its focus to SME industry and Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
Also, Pakistan must get its industry back and engage and train the youth of Pakistan to meet the massive challenge of skilled workforce requirement under the CPEC.
China needs Pakistan for its One Belt One Road (OBOR) project credentials as some Western countries have expressed suspicion that OBOR acts as a fool for China to become the regional hegemon.
Pakistan and China are great friends but their friendship is only sustainable when both partners enjoy an equitable share out of the partnership.
We hope that PM Imran Khan and his team will strike a better deal with China.
(The writer is a former President of Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce & Industry)
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