Wajahat Abbas
China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a flagship project under the Belt and Road Initiative and a tool for interregional connectivity in the regional geopolitical discourse. Since the beginning of this project it has become the primary bilateral initiative between China and Pakistan with a standing worth of 55 billion U.S. Dollars. It is a systematic framework for regional connectivity and economic venture with a hope towards better future with sustainable peace, development and better economy. CPEC is a bilateral project to improve and develop infrastructure within and outside Pakistan for better trade with China and to further integrate with other countries of the region as well. Simultaneously, for China the project is beneficial in context of regional connectivity and political influence across South Asia by infrastructure development, railway lines, energy projects including wind mills and hydropower projects.
China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) constitutes a strategic opportunity for Central Asian Countries which are landlocked but rich in resources, by providing access to regional market to transport their goods and services competitively in the global market to foster regional, economic and trade connectivity. CPEC has been depicted as an opportunity to reshape the economic and political order in Central Asia by promoting a network of trade routes, political cooperation, and cultural exchanges. Where Pakistan aspires to access Central Asia through Afghanistan to meet its energy needs and transport goods to the region. The idea of the project is to create a land and sea linkages between western China and Pakistan by providing access to the southern port of Gwadar in Baluchistan province. The especially designed port is not only confined to give benefits to Pakistan but its development provides ample opportunities to cater the needs of China and Central Asian Republics by having direct access to Arabian Sea. According to analysts, the Gwadar port is considered as important as the strategic Suez Canal for China and Central Asia.
Strategic Significance
China currently transports 80 percent of its oil and energy needs through the Malacca Strait and gradually senses that it’s economic and energy security interests in the region are under serious threats due to the escalation of tensions between China and U.S. in the region. The South China Sea is also becoming a contested territory between various regional and global actors and can be chocked by the competing powers in the Asia-Pacific region. Whereas, CPEC connects China directly to the Indian Ocean and the region of the Middle East with Gwadar Port that is only 400 kilometers away from the Strait of Hormuz and is strategically pivot for China’s transportation by reducing the distance from 12000 km to 3000 km.
According to the statement of former President of Pakistan, Pervaiz Musharraf’, “If we see this whole region, it is like a funnel. The top of the funnel is this wide area of Central Asia and also China’s western region and this funnel gets narrowed on through Afghanistan and Pakistan. The end of this funnel is Gwadar port, so this funnel futuristically, is the economic funnel of this whole region”. Furthermore, China’s access to Indian Ocean from Gwadar Port is unavoidable because it makes China less vulnerable to its existing Malacca Dilemma and provides the economic security to access the West Asia. Furthermore, CPEC is the alternative viable route both economically and security wise to counter the United States rebalance policy in Asia Pacific which involves, military, economic and strategic focus to the countries of South East Asia including India in shaping its rebalancing of South China Sea and the Indian Ocean causing discomfort for China vis-à-vis its economic interests in the region.
In the framework of geo-strategic position in the region, CPEC offers an alternative solution to link Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan which directly share border with China as well as Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to the route, which goes from Pakistan to Central Asia via Kabul and Wakhan strip. CPEC is a systematic framework which inter-link South Asia, Central Asia, North Africa and Gulf States and provides immense opportunities to Central Asian Republics to exploit their Potential and abundance of natural resources such as, oil, gas, gold and other metals under the CPEC project to further expand their trade ties with Pakistan, China and in the region.
Central Asian Interests
The diversity of China Pakistan Economic Corridor and especially the location of Gwadar Port has captured the spot light due to the geo-strategic importance in the region. It will connect Central Asian Republics to the world through Pakistan will be the center point where most of the routes converge at one point. Central Asian Republics have common borders with the Chinese province Xinjiang and according to estimates will hold China’s 75 percent of trade & transportation with CARs. Furthermore, the route connects with Pakistan where transportation of oil, coal and agricultural products will be shipped from the Gwadar Port, hence, will be a key trade center for the economic belt. In the wake of present scenario, the resource rich Central Asian Countries are making continuous efforts towards a progressive economy through access to sea by connecting with the transit trade and pipeline routes of Pakistan to export their goods to Middle East and European States through Gwadar Port. The quadrilateral transit agreement between Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, China and Kazakhstan has provided boost to the regional connectivity and will mutually benefit to further utilize the potentials of China Pakistan Economic Corridor. The revival of the quadrilateral agreement provides Pakistan a gateway to Central Asian Republics, where all the contracting parties will enjoy the leverage of tax levied on the movement of transit goods. Pakistan has welcomed the interest of Central Asian Republics for joining the CPEC, like all CARs Tajikistan responded significantly and in the year 2015, leaders of the Pakistan and Tajikistan gave approvals of several road projects connecting Pakistan and Tajikistan including, Gwadar – Peshawar – Kabul – Kunduz – Dushanbe route, Khunjerab – Kalasu – Murghab route and Chitral – Ishkashim – Dushanbe route, which will further enhance the trade volume to the marked vision of 500 million U.S. Dollars between Pakistan and Tajikistan.
Courtesy: Google Maps
Moreover, Pakistan was among the first countries which quickly realized the potential of Central Asian Republics and established strong diplomatic and trade relations by reviving the Regional Corporation for Development (RCD) and extending the membership to Central Asian Republics in making efforts to build a framework for economic cooperation and provided them the route to Arabian Sea.
Conclusion
Pakistan’s geostrategic location in South Asia is ideal in the context of regional connectivity, where China Pakistan Economic Corridor is providing a ground for promising economic opportunities by cultural exchanges and joint projects limiting not only for two countries but is open for the whole regional cooperation. Opening new ventures of economic cooperation will have meaningful consequences on the global economy and politics. Likewise, greater regional connectivity in Asia will bring ample of opportunities for business sector which will increase access to markets and thus will be beneficial in generating employment opportunities. It will be helpful in contracting the development gap at national and regional level to promote sustainable growth across the region in terms of productivity, competitiveness, and environment sustainability, social and economic progress and will empower the region to stand on its own with minimal dependence on the West. Furthermore, CPEC is not only a fulcrum for the regional connectivity but also constructive for the affluence and promotion of peace in the whole region. According to experts, by the successful completion, CPEC is considered as win-win model for Pakistan, China, and Central Asian Republics and for the whole region.
