KARACHI: It has been 10 years since the launch of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the multi-billion dollar flagship project under President Xi Jinping’s $1.4 trillion Belt and Road Initiative. Is CPEC a debt trap for Pakistan?
It is a massive program, 11 times bigger than the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe from the ruins of World War II, aiming to build a Silk Road through new roads, high-speed rail, power plants, pipelines, ports and airports. to be restored.
CPEC is also an important telecommunications link to promote trade with 60 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Once completed, it can cover more than half of the world’s population and 21 trillion. Can generate GDP of more than USD.
US analysts fear it could potentially affect global geopolitics as well as geo-economics and challenge the US. These concerns have sparked a debate in the Western media, with analysts trying to portray the BRI, or CPEC, as a debt trap that they say will trap developing countries into unsustainable debt through predatory lending. Traps.
The project was described by Pakistani officials as a game-changer, which they believed would end a chronic energy crisis, rehabilitate old infrastructure, establish industrial parks and connect China through the Gwadar port. The transit will open trade possibilities for
