Daily Times

That China represents Pakistan’s most important ally should be understood by everyone; including the US. For at a time when the Prime Minister was barefoot and scrambling around for loose change in the Middle East — the COAS was despatched to Beijing to reassure the leadership there that all remains well on the CPEC front.

Never mind that this left the country without either the top politician or military man on home soil. This was an urgent exercise in damage limitation. Following the recent and controversial comments by advisor to the PM on Commerce, in which the latter had lamented — to a foreign publication, no less — that the previous government did a bad job of negotiating the Corridor in Pakistan’s favour. To the point where suspending the mega infrastructure projects for a year or so while reviewing bilateral commitments represented the best option going forward. And although Abdul Razak Dawood has since insisted that his comments were taken out of context, he has fallen short of denying that he stands by them.

The ‘emergency’ visit appears to have paid off. For not only did President Xi reiterate that the two nations remain all-weather friends as well as strategic cooperative partners. He went on to note the pivotal role that the Pakistan Army plays in the enduring bilateral relationship. This focus on military-to-military ties is meant to underscore how this has always been more than a transactional one. Indeed, Pak-Sino alliance is all the more impressive given that it transcends cultural and religious affiliation. Yet not everyone is happy about this. In recent times, major powers such as the US have sought to re-frame the partnership as evidence of deliberate Chinese moves to undermine American regional interests. This has given way to Washington recently bandying about the term “debt trap diplomacy’. All in a bid to suggest that Beijing is saddling this country with unrealistic financial burdens vis-à-vis CPEC returns.

Of course, the reality is that this better describes the US and World Bank-led structural adjustment policies (SAPs) that were implemented in Africa during the 1980s and 1990s. Whereby aid was entirely conditional and some of the world’s poorest nations ended up subsidising western imports. By stark contrast, the Silk Road project will bring lasting benefits to Pakistan. Not least because it will modernise some of the country’s most under developed areas. Admittedly, Islamabad will have to pay a mark-up on initial outlays. But that is common practice everywhere. And nothing has proved more crippling than IMF packages; particularly as witnessed in Latin America. As far as CPEC goes, both sides have pledged to place socio-economic development at the heart of future initiatives. Beijing has even signalled that it could be open to renegotiating the 2006 China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA).

All of which indicates that the bilateral relationship is as strong as ever. And the reality of the Corridor can only be a good thing for this country and the broader region. The US, for its part, may not like this. But it will ultimately have to accept it.  *

Published in Daily Times, September 21^st 2018.