{"id":39894,"date":"2014-02-20T14:04:09","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T09:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/?p=39894"},"modified":"2014-02-20T14:04:09","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T09:04:09","slug":"china-pakistan-flesh-new-economic-corridor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/tg\/2014\/02\/20\/china-pakistan-flesh-new-economic-corridor\/","title":{"rendered":"China, Pakistan Flesh Out New \u2018Economic Corridor\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By\u00a0Shannon Tiezzi<\/a><\/div>\n
February 20, 2014<\/div>\n

As Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain wraps up a visit to Beijing, China and Pakistan are solidifying plans to create a new \u201ceconomic corridor\u201d between their two nations. The three-day visit to Beijing was Hussain\u2019s first official trip abroad since assuming the presidency. During his visit, Hussain met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in talks designed to underline the historically close ties between the two countries. \u201cFriendship with China is the most important pillar of our foreign policy and security policy,\u201d\u00a0Hussain said<\/a>\u00a0just before his meeting with Xi.<\/p>\n

Besides emphasizing China and Pakistan\u2019s generally close ties, Hussain\u2019s trip was focused on the new China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The idea was first proposed during a visit to Pakistan last May by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Hussain has embraced the idea as well, predicting that the \u201cproject is going to be a monument of the century. It will benefit not only Pakistan and China, but also the whole region with billions of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan\u2019s Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Reform, China and Pakistan expect to sign cooperation agreements on projects to enhance transportation and trade during Hussain\u2019s visit. Such projects include construction of an airport at the Chinese-controlled port of Gwadar and upgrades to roads and railways. \u201cIn the past, the economic relationship could not match the political one. Now the leadership on both sides has realized that we have to bridge that gap,\u201d Iqbal\u00a0told the\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

In addition to building infrastructure,\u00a0China Daily\u00a0<\/a><\/i>predicted<\/a>\u00a0increased cooperation \u201cin the industrial, agricultural, mining, financial, telecommunication and service sectors.\u201d For its part, Pakistan\u2019s government is especially keen for China to help develop the energy sector in order to alleviate crippling power shortages. China has already\u00a0committed $6.5 billion<\/a>\u00a0to build a new nuclear power plant in Karachi.<\/p>\n

The list of projects to be completed in Pakistan is just the beginning. China has wider ambitions for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. According to\u00a0Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying<\/a>, the corridor will \u201cserve as a driver\u00a0for connectivity between South Asia and East Asia.\u201d Mushahid Hussain, chairman of the Pakistan-China Institute,\u00a0told\u00a0China Daily<\/i><\/a>\u00a0<\/i>that the economic corridor \u201cwill play a crucial role in regional integration of the \u2018Greater South Asia\u2019, which includes China, Iran, Afghanistan, and stretches all the way to Myanmar.\u201d<\/p>\n

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is one of many examples of China trying to enhance its economic integration with countries to its west. There are also plans to set up a\u00a0Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor<\/a>. On an even larger scale, the \u201cnew silk road\u201d and \u201cmaritime silk road\u201d represent complementary efforts to build up infrastructure for trade and transportation between China and Central Asia.<\/p>\n

The end goals are twofold. First, China envisions its western transportation networks as an alternate route for oil and other energy sources. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, for example, is expected to include construction of an oil pipeline from Gwadar\u2019s port to northwestern China. China has also completed a pipeline from Kazakhstan, through which it imported over\u00a086 million barrels of oil<\/a>\u00a0in 2013, and one from Turkmenistan. The \u201cmaritime silk road,\u201d meanwhile, is expected to increase security for China\u2019s shipping lanes through the Indian Ocean and South China Sea. The development of transportation networks to the west of China helps Beijing diversify energy sources and trade routes.<\/p>\n

Second, China\u2019s western regions are underdeveloped compared to the eastern coastal areas. By focusing on westward trade, China hopes to spark a general economic boom in the west, especially in Xinjiang province. Beijing hopes that increased economic development and prosperity will help mollify the grievances of the native Uyghur population. Unrest has been increasing in the past year\u2014Kashgar, the Chinese end of the new China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, has been the site of\u00a0several incidents of violence<\/a>\u00a0in recent months. It\u2019s long been Beijing\u2019s hope that bringing economic benefits to restive regions can help ameliorate religious and ethnic tensions.<\/p>\n

To achieve these goals, Beijing has been reaching out to new potential partners, including recent overtures to\u00a0Sri Lanka<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0India<\/a>. However, China would naturally focus special attention on implementing its plan with the cooperation of a long-time diplomatic partner like Pakistan. As\u00a0China Daily\u00a0<\/a><\/i>pointed out<\/a>, increased economic interaction will also help support China and Pakistan\u2019s longtime strategic and diplomatic cooperation. Should Pakistan reap the economic benefits of the new corridor, it could boost Islamabad\u2019s regional power and prestige\u2014and it can only help Beijing to see the influence of a long-time ally increase.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0Courtesy: The diplomat<\/strong><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Shannon Tiezzi February 20, 2014 As Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain wraps up a visit to Beijing, China and Pakistan are solidifying plans to create a new \u201ceconomic corridor\u201d between their two nations. The three-day visit to Beijing was Hussain\u2019s first official trip abroad since assuming the presidency. During his visit, Hussain met with Chinese President …<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogs-op-ed"],"better_featured_image":{"id":39895,"alt_text":"","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":386,"height":257,"file":"2014\/02\/thediplomat_2014-02-19_19-29-51-386x257.jpg","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"thediplomat_2014-02-19_19-29-51-386x257-260x250.jpg","width":260,"height":250,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pamirtimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/thediplomat_2014-02-19_19-29-51-386x257.jpg?resize=260%2C250&ssl=1"},"120x85":{"file":"thediplomat_2014-02-19_19-29-51-386x257-120x85.jpg","width":120,"height":85,"source_url":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/thediplomat_2014-02-19_19-29-51-386x257-120x85.jpg"},"150x150":{"file":"thediplomat_2014-02-19_19-29-51-386x257-150x150.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"source_url":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/thediplomat_2014-02-19_19-29-51-386x257-150x150.jpg"},"415x260":{"file":"thediplomat_2014-02-19_19-29-51-386x257-415x260.jpg","width":415,"height":260,"source_url":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/thediplomat_2014-02-19_19-29-51-386x257-415x260.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":0,"credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":0,"copyright":"","focal_length":0,"iso":0,"shutter_speed":0,"title":""}},"post":39894,"source_url":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/thediplomat_2014-02-19_19-29-51-386x257.jpg"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pamirtimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/thediplomat_2014-02-19_19-29-51-386x257.jpg?fit=386%2C257&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/tg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/tg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/tg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/tg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/tg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39894"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/tg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39896,"href":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/tg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39894\/revisions\/39896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/tg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/tg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/tg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/tg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}