Pakistan and the Politics of CPEC: A Rethink on the Anvil?

Research Consultant, under the Pakistan News Digest Project, IDSA, Ms Zainab Akhter’s article on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), titled ‘Pakistan and the Politics of CPEC: A Rethink on the Anvil?’ was published in ‘South Asian Voices’ on October 21, 2018.

The new debate on CPEC not only brings China’s ‘debt-trap diplomacy’ to the forefront but also emphasizes Pakistan’s dilemma of being between the dragon and the dollar. If Pakistan continues the CPEC project without transparency, it risks losing the US support for an IMF bailout and a further deterioration of relations with Washington. On the other hand, if Pakistan tries to renegotiate CPEC with China, it may become an irritant in Islamabad’s all-weather friendship with Beijing and compromise its future economic growth, writes Ms Akhtar.

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