CPEC City Project

Why in NEWS ?

• Pakistan PM Imran Khan to launch ‘CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) City’ project in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

About

• Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will launch work on a mega city development project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Rashakai town of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province on November 18.
• Federal Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak announced that the Prime Minister would launch the ‘CPEC City’ project.
• The city will be constructed under the CPEC (project) and will consist of education and commercial zones, public buildings, apartments, golf course, theme park and sports facilities.
• India has objected to the CPEC as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

• The CPEC connecting China’s resource-rich Xinjiang province with Pakistan’s strategic Gwadar port in Balochistan is regarded as the flagship project of the multi-billion BRI(Belt and Road Initiative, also known as One Belt One Road (OBOR) Initiative ), the pet scheme of President Xi Jinping aimed at furthering China’s influence globally with Chinese funded infrastructure projects.
• Started in 2013, the CPEC is a developmental project between Pakistan and its all- weather friend China.
• The 3,000 km-long China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) consists of highways, railways, and pipelines.
• CPEC eventually aims at linking the city of Gwadar in South Western Pakistan to China’s North Western region Xinjiang through a vast network of highways and railways.
• The proposed project will be financed by heavily-subsidised loans, that will be disbursed to the Government of Pakistan by Chinese banks.

India’s Concern with CPEC

• CPEC passes through PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan, which India claims to be its own integral and indispensable territory, illegally held by CPEC also somewhat legitimises.
• Pakistan’s ownership over disputed PoK and it may lead to the internationalisation of Kashmir Issue which India doesn’t want.
• CPEC rests on a Chinese plan to secure and shorten its supply lines through Gwadar with an enhanced presence in the Indian Ocean. Hence, it is widely believed that upon CPEC’s fruition, an extensive Chinese presence will undermine India’s influence in the Indian Ocean.
• With the complete realisation of CPEC, China will get a free corridor to move its armour and mechanised weapons which are a threat to India in the plains of Punjab and Rajasthan.
• Apart from this India feels that the high economic stakes in the project will push China to ally with Pakistan on the Kashmir dispute.
• It is also being contended that if CPEC were to successfully transform the Pakistan economy that could be a “red rag” for India which will remain at the receiving end of a wealthier and stronger Pakistan.
• Besides, India shares a great deal of trust deficit with China and Pakistan and has a history of conflict with both. As a result, even though suggestions to re-approach the project pragmatically have been made, no advocate has overruled the principle strands of contention that continue to mar India’s equations with China and Pakistan.
• Despite clarifications from China and Pakistan that the port at Gwadar will be used only for economic purposes, India fears that China may establish a naval base at Gwadar to ensure Chinese maritime hegemony in the Indian Ocean.
• India considers Gwadar Port as part of China’s String of Pearls” bases, that extends from its eastern coast to the Arabian Sea.