Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: As a pilot project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has achieved great progress during the last five years, a statement issued by the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad said on Monday.

“The CPEC has effectively alleviated energy crisis and infrastructure shortage which were considered as two bottlenecks in Pakistan’s development, and has played a positive role in maintaining the relatively high economic growth in the country,” the statement read. “As an early harvest project of the CPEC, the Lahore Orange Line project has been widely welcomed by the Pakistani government and the people, creating a large number of job opportunities. After the completion, it will greatly ease the traffic congestion in Lahore and provide people with affordable and energy-saving transportation,” it added.

The statement rejected a report carried by the Wall Street Journal, saying it is severely deviated from the facts. “The report stated that CPEC led to the debt crisis of Pakistan. This is a highly irresponsible statement that fails to reflect the reality. According to data released by the Pakistani government, 42% of foreign debt of Pakistan is from multilateral financial institutions, 18% of the debt is from Paris Club. Chinese preferential loans account for only 10% of the whole foreign debt, and offer a much lower rate than commercial bank loans,” the statement maintained. “From this perspective, even if there is a so-called ‘debt trap’, the initiator is not China. As to the people who fabricated the lie that the so-called ‘debt trap’ in Pakistan is caused by the CPEC, if they are unable to offer tangible assistance to Pakistan, they can at least try to put the sincere cooperation between other countries in perspective,” it added.

The statement said that the cooperation under the CPEC has always adhered to the principles of mutual benefit, equality and reciprocity by following the golden rules of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. “The planning and implementation of the CPEC has been discussed by both sides in open. No country is dominating the process. Both sides have an equal say. Firmly promoting CPEC is an across-party national consensus in Pakistan and has received the wholehearted support from the Pakistani people. We believe that the CPEC will be advanced in a steady manner in accordance with the consensus reached by China and Pakistan without being disturbed by other factors. We hope that relevant media reports could respect the truth, take off their tinted glasses, and make more objective, unbiased and all-sided reports. Their readers deserve the true story,” the statement concluded.

Published in Daily Times, July 24^th 2018.