China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: A Perspective from Pakistan

Abstract

The framework of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor CPEC envisions an intrinsic regional development goal. It promises connectivity across the length and breadth of the region and its periphery, together with achieving an economically strengthened neighborhood. It is this compulsion that merits deliberations on the strength of Pak-China relations and their impact on the phenomenal CPEC vision. The idea rests on the notion of China’s newer role in the evolving geostrategic and geo-economic underpinnings of the world, and also Pakistan’s resilience towards carving out a strengthened economic base amidst major security challenges. Hence, with the opportunities that lay ahead of CPEC for the region and beyond, Pakistan holds high the dictum of ‘strong economy is sin-qua-non for strong security’. With its significant geostrategic location as a mainstay of CPEC, Pakistan aims to provide a platform for economic growth for the region and beyond. It has also envisioned to booster development and raise the standards of living across the corridor, which includes Western China as well as areas of Pakistan which have suffered at the hands of agitated neighborhood as a burden of history. However, it is also worth mentioning that, viewing the opportunities that lie within CPEC, in isolation from the challenges may indeed be delusional. Particularly, in the security, socioeconomic and cultural domains, CPEC may generate challenges to Pakistan and the region, which need to be considered seriously. Nonetheless, this study aims to provide an insight to Pakistan’s resolve towards domestic and regional developments amidst the Chinese vision of CPEC and also considers the strength of Pak-China relations as the mainstay of materializing the CPEC goal of development for all.