The Chinese concern

The Chinese concern

Dr. Jassim Taqui

Despite the rhetoric statement of the Foreign Office on the visit of the Chinese State Commissioner for Counter Terrorism and Security Cheng Guoping, the spirit of the statement shows a marked concern by Beijing over the timely implementation of CPEC. It is this concern that made China sending Guoping to seek Pak support to its national security, territorial integrity, and sovereignty, which should be an axiom for Pakistan and does not require re-affirmation.

China is genuinely perturbed over the government’s delay the implementation of CPEC’s projects, insistence on changing its route and behind-the-scene amity with Narendra Modi notwithstanding his hostility towards CPEC and indeed towards Pakistan itself. Modi has schemed on a sustained manner to sabotage Pak-China relations. How would the government, then, justify its warmth towards this regime? It is a mind boggling question.

Ostensibly, the ruling regime has something else in mind though it pursues a two-track policy of deception. On the one hand, the regime proclaims that strengthening the bilateral relations with China constitutes the “ cornerstone” of Pak Foreign Policy. On the other, it uses non-state actors and rogues to leak reports to the press warning that the CPEC could be to Pakistan the East India Company was the Indian Subcontinent, implying that China could use CPEC to occupy Pakistan.