Pakistan Can’t Afford China’s ‘Friendship’

[El Sidd]

Thanks great read. Loved the proper grammar.

Now stop bleeding

 

[Jaanbaz]

You'll prove your assertions when pigs fly? Got it.

When pigs fly we will dance with joy
Christine Fair is the maiden fairy
Always neutral and a bit fluffy
She hates Pakistan but loves Curry

 

[AZ1]

OP is right we can't afford China's friendship but hey china is no friend. He's our brother and proved on number of occasions . Now come up with new title can't afford brother.

 

[PAKISTANFOREVER]

I think this is Christine Fair's article: link


ARGUMENT
Pakistan Can’t Afford China’s ‘Friendship’
Pakistan's elites think Chinese cash can save the country. They're wrong.
BY C. CHRISTINE FAIR | JULY 3, 2017, 9:00 AM

Abbottabad, PAKISTAN: Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Major General Liu Minjiang (C) and Pakistani Major General Mohsin Kamal (behind flag) stand during the opening ceremony of the ten day Pakistan-China anti-terrorist military exercise in Abbottabad, 11 December 2006. More than 200 Chinese troops headed to Pakistan's mountainous northern region at the start of the first ever joint military exercise held here by the two allies. AFP PHOTO/Aamir QURESHI (Photo credit should read AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images)


In recent months, the Chinese-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has left Pakistanis emboldened, Indians angry, and U.S. analysts worried. Ostensibly, CPEC will connect Pakistan to China’s western Xinjiang province through the development of vast new transportation and energy infrastructure. The project is part of China’s much-hyped Belt and Road Initiative, a grand, increasingly vague geopolitical plan bridging Eurasia that China’s powerful President Xi Jinping has promoted heavily.

Pakistani and Chinese officials boast that CPEC will help address Pakistan’s electricity generation problem, bolster its road and rail networks, and shore up the economy through the construction of special economic zones. But these benefits are highly unlikely to materialize. The project is more inclined to leave Pakistan burdened with unserviceable debt while further exposing the fissures in its internal security.

Pakistan and China often speak of their “all-weather friendship,” but the truth is that the relationship has always been a cynical one. China cultivated Pakistan as a client through the provision of military assistance; diplomatic and political cover in the U.N. Security Council; and generous loan aid in an effort to counter both American influence and the system of anti-Communist Western treaty alliances. China also sought to embolden Pakistan to harangue India, but not to the point of war because that would expose the hard limits of Chinese support. Despite Pakistan’s boasts of iron-clad Chinese support, when Pakistan went to war with India in 1965, 1971, and 1999, China did little or nothing to bail out its client in distress.

During the 1971 war, when India intervened in Pakistan’s civil war in its Bengali-dominated eastern wing, President Richard Nixon requested China move troops along its eastern border with India to intimidate India and stave off Pakistan’s defeat. However, China declined to undertake even this modest effort to preclude India from vivisecting Pakistan. East Pakistan became independent Bangladesh in 1971. In a nod to Pakistan, China refused to recognize Bangladesh until August 1975, even after Pakistan did so in February 1974.

There’s little reason to think China has made a sudden conversion to altruism when it comes to CPEC. The project originated in 2013, when the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, and Pakistan’s then-president, Asif Ali Zardari, agreed to build an economic corridor between the two countries. The project inched closer to fruition in 2014, when Pakistan’s President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif traveled to China on different occasions to further discussions. In November 2014, the Chinese government announced that it would finance $46 billion in energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan as part of CPEC. In September 2016, China announced a new loan deal for CPEC valued at $51.6 billion. In November 2016, part of CPEC became “operational” when products were moved by truck from China and loaded onto ships at Pakistan’s port Gwador along the Makran coast for markets in West Asia and Africa. After this major development, China declared that it would increase its investmentagain to $62 billion in April.

Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership alike have told the public that CPEC will solve Pakistan’s chronic electricity shortages, improve an aging road and rail infrastructure, provide a fillip to Pakistan’s economy, knit an increasingly pariah state to a new Chinese-led geopolitical order, and diminish the role of the much-reviled United States in the region. CPEC has the bonus of irritating the Indians because it strengthens Pakistan’s hold on territory in Jammu and Kashmir that it snatched in the 1947-48 war as well as portions of that territory that Pakistan subsequently ceded to China in 1963 as a part of the Sino-Pakistan boundary agreement. India claims these lands, currently held by Pakistan and China, and deems their occupation illegal.

Despite the bold claims made by China and Pakistan, there are many reasons to be dubious about the purported promises of CPEC. There’s already violence all along the corridor. The north-most part of CPEC is the Karakoram Highway (KKH), which gashes through the Karakoram Mountain Range to connect Kashgar in Xinjiang with Pakistan’s troubled province of Gilgit-Baltistan. Xinjiang is in the throes of a slow-burning insurgency by the Muslim Uighur minority against the Communist state. Gilgit-Baltistan, a Shiite-majority polity under the thumb of a Sunni-dominated Pakistan, is part of the above-noted contested territory of Jammu-Kashmir. Here, geology and weather further limit CPEC. The Karakoram Highway, a narrow road weaving through perilous mountains, can’t bear heavy traffic. Expanding the KKH will not be easy. Residents of Gilgit-Baltistan worry about the environmental costs in relation to the few benefits they will enjoy. There have been episodic protests, which the Pakistani government has ruthlessly put down. Meanwhile, Gwador is experiencing a prolonged drought, frustrating the project while the four extant desalination plants remain idle.

In the south, CPEC is anchored to the port at Gwador in Pakistan’s insurgency-riven Balochistan province. The local Baloch people deeply resent the plan because it will fundamentally change the demography of the area. Before the expansion of Gwadar, the population of the area was 70,000. If the project comes to full fruition the population would be closer to 2 million — most of whom would be non-Baloch. Many poor Baloch have already been displaced from the area. Since construction has begun, there have been numerous attacks against Chinese personnel, among other workers.

There’s also the stubborn problem of economic competitiveness. For CPEC to be more competitive than the North-South Corridor that is rooted to the Iranian port of Chabahar, Gwador needs to offer a safer and shorter route from the Arabian Sea to Central Asia. For that to happen, Gwador needs to be connected by road to the Afghan Ring Road in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, which is under sustained attacks by the Afghan Taliban. Alternatively, a new route could connect Gwador with the border crossing at Torkham (near Peshawar) by traveling up Balochistan, with its own active ethnic insurgency, through or adjacent to Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which is the epicenter of Islamist terrorism and insurgency throughout Pakistan. It takes great faith — or idiocy, or greed, or all of the above — to believe that this is possible.

All of these issues raise salient questions about the real utility of this unfolding fiasco. If CPEC is not an economically viable route for actual commerce, what purpose does it serve? Analyst Andrew Small, among others, has argued that CPEC is, in reality, a redundant supply route for China should it face an embargo during a military conflict. It’s also possible that if the port at Gwador is not economically sustainable the real goal is the creation of a Chinese naval outpost. Many in India, Pakistan’s historic rival, have also come to this conclusion. They may well be correct, according to recent Chinese reports indicating that China may “expand its marine corps and may station new marine brigades in Gwadar.”

While the benefits to transit may be illusory, it is possible that Pakistan could benefit from purportedly low-hanging fruit, including the much-lauded economic zones and power plants. Pakistan does struggle with power shortages. But its problem is not a lack of supply, rather the complex issue of “circular debt” referring to the accumulating unpaid bills of the power sector; the theft of power through illegal connections, meter tampering, and other means; and an inadequate transmission system. Meanwhile, Pakistanis have learned that the current Chinese development model will do little for their economy. China prefers to use its own companies and employees rather than hire locally.

Pakistani citizens also have no way to know what CPEC will cost them. Neither government has been clear about what projects are part of the plan. Costing has been completely opaque. China sets the price, contracts the work out to Chinese companies, and saddles Pakistan with the loans. Given the ongoing security threats on Chinese nationals in Pakistan, Islamabad is raising a CPEC Protection Force, the costs of which will be passed on to Pakistani citizens. The State Bank of Pakistan has repeatedly called for more transparency, to no avail. Astonishingly, according to the Pakistani daily The Dawn, “Despite the frantic activity, Islamabad had yet to determine the expected cost and benefit, expressed in monetary terms, of the mega project.” And that’s before factoring in other costs such as the cultural and religious tensions between Chinese and Pakistanis, although there’s been a public relations push by both governments to downplay them.

Recently, The Dawn claimed to have accessed the alleged CPEC “master plan,” drawn up by the China Development Bank and the National Development Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China. It suggests that CPEC is really about agriculture, an issue that had not previously been discussed in the extensive media coverage of the plan. As part of the overall project, thousands of acres of productive agricultural land will be leased to the Chinese for “demonstration projects” for newly developed seed varieties and irrigation technology. Chinese companies will be the primary beneficiaries of these initiatives.

Pakistanis should be worried about the way CPEC is shaping up. If it is even partially executed, Pakistan would be indebted to China as never before. And unlike Pakistan’s other traditional allies, such as the United States, China will probably use its leverage to obtain greater compliance from its problematic client. China is particularly concerned about the Islamist militant groups active among China’s Uighur Muslim population in Xinjiang. Uigher militant groups have long shared ties with groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan, some of which have been patronized by the Pakistani state, such as the Afghan Taliban. China has used religious and political oppression, along with crude violence, to eviscerate the Islamist revival among Xinjiang’s Uighers and has counted on Pakistan to give China political cover while doing so. In taking on Chinese debt, Pakistan may also risk severely worsening its already critical relations with India, which has been watching the CPEC drama unfold with growing alarm. In the north, CPEC continues to make permanent the Pakistani and Chinese grip on territory India claims. In the south, Chinese naval vessels may dock in the deep port of Gwador, threatening New Delhi in the Arabian Sea. In normal times, this would be a serious concern for the United States — but Washington is so distracted by the chaos of the Trump administration that the issue has gone largely under the radar.

But the news may not be all bad. For China to get maximal returns on its extensive investments in Pakistan as well as Afghanistan it needs stability in both countries. In recent years, China has stepped up its role in trying to negotiate peace in Afghanistan by helping to mediate between Pakistan and Afghanistan. As Pakistan’s economy becomes evermore interwoven with China’s, China may be in a position to dampen Pakistan’s worrying affinity for terrorist groups and nuclear proliferation — particularly the latter, because China enabled Pakistan’s nuclear program to begin with. If China took on the responsibility of managing Pakistan, Washington might be happy to wash its hands of the problem and let the civilians in Islamabad and the uniformed men in Rawalpindi stab someone else in the back for a change.

Photo Credit: AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images

The author is christine fair, a known anti-Pakistani, anti-Mislim extreme zionist. This childless old bitter hag is obsessed with her hatred of our people. Ignore her and what she writes. It's just as gutter as the indian media. Move on everyone.

PS This barren childless hag also started harassing and acting insanely against Richard Spencer. To hell with her.

 

[Mrc]

You'll prove your assertions when pigs fly? Got it.

pigs are flying on media and even this forum.... but no body is interested

 

[Solomon2]

The author is christine fair, a known anti-Pakistani, anti-Mislim extreme zionist.

I think she's disgusted with Pakistani institutions, both military and civilian. Didn't know she was a Zionist and don't see what bearing that has on the article, other than, perhaps, an attempt to smear mud on her by invoking the Zionists-are-evil convention that Pakistanis are compelled to swallow?

(How did I end up on her side? I don't like her. But I can separate the person from the arguments.)

When pigs fly we will dance with joy
Christine Fair is the maiden fairy
Always neutral and a bit fluffy
She hates Pakistan but loves Curry

Giving up on prose and switching to ad hominem poetry instead?

 

[Dotachin]

childless old bitter hag

Wow, insulting a woman's inability to bear children. Such classy gentleman you are. Are you really from UK or even lived there for short amount of time?

On topic: Why not give a rational argument to her lies and propaganda? must be too much to ask when the argument set is limited to "" blah blah blah.....that what you thought when Pakistan became nuclear" or "blah blah blah......Pakistanis are beautiful race""

 

[Advocate Pakistan]

Pakistan has been a security state from the start. They always stick to some super power one after another.
Earlier it was U.S now its China. Beside with some economic lollypop, CPEC brings china in along with pakistan against india.

Just like India, earlier it was Soviets now it's Uncle Sam through brother Israel.

 

[The SC]

Article is:

 

[Awan68]

Even Orya Maqbool Jan(Pakistanis know what I'm talking about) has more credibility then Christine Fair.

I guess to u the likes of mubashir zaidi are credible right

 

[Laozi]

Pakistan is in a transition phase where it is cutting its ties with America and solely getting dependent on China,

only a few can foresee the consequences of such great shift

Chinese ideology is completely different from American culture.

Pakistanis should be prepared to have a Chinese like freedom of their media and social network as this will be the first change coming their way

 

[PAKISTANFOREVER]

I think she's disgusted with Pakistani institutions, both military and civilian. Didn't know she was a Zionist and don't see what bearing that has on the article, other than, perhaps, an attempt to smear mud on her by invoking the Zionists-are-evil convention that Pakistanis are compelled to swallow?

(How did I end up on her side? I don't like her. But I can separate the person from the arguments.)

Giving up on prose and switching to ad hominem poetry instead?

If that's the case then she is retarded. Americans have FAR more presding matters to deal right now then worry about the Pakistan military or it's integrity. The Pakistan military is the ONLY institution in the whole history of mankind to be able to fend off an enemy that is 7x bigger than us and has abundant access to the world's most advanced weapons systems whilst we are denied this privilege, for over 70 years.

Pakistan has been a security state from the start. They always stick to some super power one after another.
Earlier it was U.S now its China. Beside with some economic lollypop, CPEC brings china in along with pakistan against india.

You know Pakistan must be doing something very right when a member of the race that calls for the destruction of the Pakistani race and nation is all of a sudden concerned with Pakistan's geopolitical and economic strategy..........

 

[Dalit]

LOL at Christine Fair. Who would take this garbage seriously?

I love it how these silly Amrericans are in a rage about Pakistan China relationship when their own president is busy retweeting Islamic hatred in front of the whole world. What a laughing stock.

 

[Hakikat ve Hikmet]

Her arguments? Those aren't arguments but opinions, her opinions can be disregarded and thrown away in the void simply because she has proven that she has a clear bias against not just Pakistan as a country but the people of Pakistan.

Iblis is the father of demagogue!!! And, these folks are his direct disciples!! Even Prophets (PBUT) failed!!!!

 

[Dalit]

I think she's disgusted with Pakistani institutions, both military and civilian. Didn't know she was a Zionist and don't see what bearing that has on the article, other than, perhaps, an attempt to smear mud on her by invoking the Zionists-are-evil convention that Pakistanis are compelled to swallow?

(How did I end up on her side? I don't like her. But I can separate the person from the arguments.)

Giving up on prose and switching to ad hominem poetry instead?

LOL no one over here gives a fvck about you and her opinion. Do something about it if you can.