Daily Times

China on Monday maintained that the debt incurred by China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) makes up a very small proportion of Pakistan’s debt composition and is not to blame for the current financial difficulties facing the country.

“In fact, you may have noted that according to what is released about the debt structure by the Pakistani government, the debt incurred by CPEC makes up a very small proportion of Pakistan’s debt composition and it is not to blame for the current financial difficulty in Pakistan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang’s told a regular press conference here. “I would like to clearly point out that the Chinese side is willing to join hands with Pakistan to continuously enrich and expand CPEC and help the Pakistani side enhance its capacity for self-driven development,” he said to a question about reports that Pakistan asking for help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has something to do with the debt incurred by the CPEC projects.

The spokesperson said CPEC projects are being co-built by the Chinese and Pakistani governments under the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, adding that the choice of the projects and financing arrangement are decided by two sides through equal-footed consultation.

To a question about reports that IMF and US will be scrutinizing the Chinese loans provided to Pakistan before the international lender takes any decision on Islamabad’s request for a bailout package, the spokesperson said as a member of the IMF, China supports the organization in making an objective evaluation of Pakistan based on professionalism and earnestly helping it properly address the current financial difficulties. “The relevant measures should not affect the normal bilateral cooperation between China and Pakistan,” he added.

“Recently there have been many discussions on Pakistan’s debt issue and the financial difficulties it is faced with. Like I just said, if we take a look at the country’s debt structure as released by the Pakistani government, the debt incurred by CPEC only constitutes a very small proportion of total debt composition and is surely not to blame for the current financial difficulties,” the spokesperson said to a question. “Officials of relevant department in the Pakistani government have already made this point very clear,” he added.

Published in Daily Times, October 16^th 2018.