Daily Times

Public discourse is manoeuvred by the powerful interest groups in the nation states therefore lobbyists find themselves in a heaven erecting their own narratives. The Public opinion is a construction: of media and of everyday discourse influenced by media and the governments .It is therefore acknowledged and treated as though it were an objective reality to be discovered by taking account of assumed beliefs and expressed beliefs about public policy.

China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has lately become the object of nefarious designs at the helm of those furnishing narratives in the country. CPEC is the flagship project of China’s gigantic strategic project of OBOR (One Belt One Road) offering development and growth opportunities for both countries on multiple grounds. The flagship project promises peace, prosperity and development not only for the two neighbouring countries alone but for the region as a whole. Being labelled as a harbinger of prosperity and a fate changer for the region, it has turned into an exorbitantly germane tool for domestic and foreign policy of both Pakistan and China- predicting a win-win solution for both states.

Anti-CPEC propaganda has become an advertent ambition of both the mainstream agenda driving forces and those meddling into the discourse in the country. Ever since the inauguration of the project it has been labelled as neo-imperialist design and another East India by many sections of the media creating an anti-CPEC narrative in the minds of the Pakistani populace. The agenda making machines convincingly projected China as an imperialist power bent on exploiting “our natural resources for the gargantuan appetite of economic growth”, the fact is that China is blessed with huge deposits of natural resources, including some rare earth elements.

The major element of discourse on CPEC became the word of mouth for the populace was that the Chinese labour and workers (mainly Chinese prisoners) will replace Pakistani workers rendering them jobless, whereas the fact is there is more than plenty of work in China and 10,000 Chinese nationals living in several camps will return to their native country as soon as the CPEC projects are completed.

Creating doubts and sowing fear and misconceptions, a lot of traction has already been gained by the cynics of CPEC reporting factually incorrect information. Albeit the government has been trying to debunk misconceptions, it has fallen woefully short. In recent past International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff report following the approval of a three-year $6bn bailout programme, the IMF mentions the repayment of $14.68bn due for $21.8bn bilateral and commercial loans that Pakistan owes to China. This is almost 24pc of the country’s total $85.8bn external debt and liabilities. The document states that the Chinese commercial debt will be fully retired by the end of the programme in 2022 while the bilateral debt ($15.5bn) will be almost half of what the country owes at this point to $7.9bn.

The mention of Chinese related debt came in the spectrum of the United States’ explicit dismay over the possibility that Pakistan could use the bailout package to pay back Chinese loans. The US stance frustrated the anxieties surrounding the multibillion-dollar China’s investment plan. The CPEC did propelled the growth and motivated economic drivers by removing infrastructure bottlenecks. To date, 22 projects worth US $28 billion are in various stages of implementation, of which US $22 billion worth are private sector energy projects. The Government of Pakistan’s financial liability is only to the tune of US $5.8 billion comprising of low interest loans and grants in infrastructure projects spread over 20 to 25 years payback period.

Section of international media published an article on CPEC “IMF Won’t Stop China From Turning Pakistan Into The Next Sri Lanka” creating a myth and false narrative of a “debt trap”. Debunking the perception, Ministry of Planning, Development &Reforms clarified that the analysis was evidently misguiding and factually flawed since energy projects are being executed purely in the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) mode and finances are mainly taken by the private companies against their own balance sheets. Therefore, debt would be borne by the investors instead of any obligation on part of the Government of Pakistan. Therefore; the impression of debt burden falling on the Government of Pakistan is based on incorrect analysis. “Under CPEC, development of Gwadar (mostly through grant / interest free loans) projects would ensure strengthening of maritime sector. The development of Gwadar port project is on BOT mode and cannot be compared with any port project being developed on foreign funding/loans.”

Moving beyond the political undertones currently defining (and re-defining) CPEC, it is also worth noting that the entire initiative is gearing towards its second phase of development. Whereas, the preceding phase was characterised largely by massive state-led infrastructure projects, the following phase is more geared towards setting up the right conditions for building a long-term industrial base on the back of key private-public partnerships.

The external and internal forces may have their own vested interests to thrust CPEC into failure since the Chinese rise on the global stage as strategic and economic competitor to the hegemonic Unite States hasn’t settled well with the stakeholders in the region and on the global map. In the midst the narratives may shift to alter public discourse on CPEC, however, when those conspiring under the impression of wielding support from their instigators as their ambiguous cloaks are faded, they will face the music. Yet, as Shakespeare’s Hotspur once asked of spirits: “Will they come when you do call for them?”