Authors: Hoo Tiang Boon & Glenn K. H. Ong
Affiliation: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Organization/Publisher: Australian Journal of International Affairs
Date/Place: Nov. 19, 2020/England
Type of Literature: Article
Word Count: 5693
Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10357718.2020.1844142?journalCode=caji20
Keywords: China; Pakistan; China– Pakistan relations; Pakistan Armed Forces; China– Pakistan economic Corridor; Chinese investments
Brief:
The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Pakistan is therefore taken as a key strategic partner by China. Though soaring assertions have been drawn about the economic potential of CPEC, Pakistan’s economy is currently getting calamitous. The authors analyze the consequences of Pakistan’s economic sustainability, with reference to the Pakistan Armed Forces (PMA)’s involvement and its consequences for China. The article elucidates that this involvement has significant benefits with many repercussions for China, particularly in the security and political phases of its interests and economic stability. Since the inauguration of CPEC, Pakistan’s economic graphs with the debt of USD $111 billion, is continuously stirring truncated. The authors are of the view that Pakistan’s economy must stimulate enough growth for it to achieve its substantial loan reimbursements. A persistent dearth of sufficient growth in the Pakistani economy, economic pundits have seen, will lead to Chinese banks running the risk of ‘bearing the CPEC’s costs.’ The article further implies that when viewing Sino-Pakistani relations with the economic lens, the PMA’s supremacy in Pakistan is not always an advantage for China. The military’s political predominance brings difficulties for economic development in Pakistan. For progression to take place, Islamabad requires, amid other things, to decrease its debt levels significantly. Nevertheless, this can never be achieved when the military is permitted to continue its own requirement and asserts a substantial portion of the country’s limited budget. More profoundly, Pakistan’s economic glitches are imbedded in the policies shaped and promoted by the PMA as a security-oriented state priority, and never having been the economy. Keys to growth, such as human capital investments, are mainly being deserted in a Pakistan dominated by the PMA and its security agenda.
By: Maryam Khan, CIGA Research Associate
