Daily Archives: December 1, 2016

A new international seaway trade route finally opened yesterday, when a Chinese ship meant to export goods to the Middle Eastern and African countries harbored at Gawadar, the newly constructed port under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Considering the business importance and significance of the Port, top-tier leadership of Pakistan flew to Gawadar and formally opened the route. A ship which contained Chinese goods commenced its journey towards Middle East and African countries. Before this, the goods were being transported through a convoy of trucks which traversed the country from the northwestern province of China, Xinjiang.

In order to provide security to all the trade and business through CPEC in Pakistan, a special force has been tasked by the Pakistani Army. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who himself attended the inaugural ceremony, said that Pakistan will keep on providing best possible security to foreign investors enabling them to use the Chinese-funded port for international trade.

“CPEC will help in integrating these regions into an economic zone offering great opportunities for people of the region as well as investors from all over the world”, said Nawaz Sharif.

The ceremony was also attended by the Chief of Army Staff, General Raheel Sharif.

The $46 Bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) consists of a series of road networks, energy projects and other projects of mutual interest. CPEC is also expected to trigger a new phase of science and technology collaboration between Pakistan and China.

China and Pakistan have launched a direct rail and sea freight service, with the first cargo train departing from Yunnan, an inland province in southwest China, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

A cargo train loaded with 500 tonnes of commodities left Kunming, capital of Yunnan, for Karachi on Wednesday, marking the opening of the new route.

“The route helps locals businesses connect with the world market,” a representative from the New Silk Road Yunnan Limited said.

The new rail, sea freight will cut logistics cost, including that of transport, by 50 per cent compared to past services, the news agency reported.

The service is a part of China’s Maritime Silk Road initiative, of which the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project (CPEC) is an extension.

Pakistan and China kicked off first trade activities under CPEC in October as over a hundred Chinese containers arrived at the Sust port in Hunza, following clearance from customs. The containers were headed to Gwadar.

About CPEC

The CPEC is a 3,000-kilometre network of roads, railways and pipelines to transport oil and gas from Gwadar Port to Kashgar city, northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Proposed by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his visit to Pakistan in May 2013, the CPEC will act as a bridge for the new Maritime Silk Route that envisages linking three billion people in Asia, Africa and Europe.

An official agreement on the corridor was signed between the two countries in May this year during President Xi Jinping’s historic visit to Pakistan.

On 13 November, the under-development China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) became operational in the sense that the first convoy of trucks laden with Chinese goods traversing the CPEC’s 3,000-kilometre journey from Kashgar in China arrived at Gwadar and was further seen off in a Chinese ship from Gwadar to West Asia and Africa. Pakistan’s top civilian and military leaders were reportedly present at Gwadar to see off the Chinese ship.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif stated that Pakistan will provide the best possible security to foreign investors to enable them to use Gwadar for international trade. As per current plans, the CPEC is to absorb $46 billion of Chinese investment — $11 billion from the Chinese government and the remaining $35 billion from private companies in China. Pakistan expects its GDP to rise because of the CPEC and for 700,000 jobs to be created for Pakistanis

There is no denying that Chinese infrastructure development is very quick, whether in terms of the railway line to Lhasa and to Hairatan on the Afghanistan-Uzbekistan border (inaugurated on 7 September), the One-Belt-One-Road system, communications in Tibet, multiple gas and oil pipelines or the CPEC itself. Gwadar Port has been developed in record time by a Chinese company with China bearing the complete cost for its development; gratis to Pakistan. The road link from Karachi to Gwadar too was developed speedily. No Pakistani can enter Gwadar Port (guarded by the PLA) without a valid ID card. Pakistan is responsible for the security of the CPEC with all costs to be borne by Islamabad. The country has in fact has raised additional forces specifically to guard the CPEC, with a major portion of this special security force deployed in Balochistan.

There was commotion in Pakistan when then minister of Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan announced in 2011 that the US had been asked to vacate the Shamsi airbase even though the US had already ceased all operations from Shamsi three months earlier, after the Raymond Davis affair. Calls of national pride getting hurt were raised in letting a foreign power use Pakistani soil. But it finally emerged that Shamsi was built by Arab sheikhs for falcon-hunting in the early 1990s but had been occupied by the CIA since at least 2004, when Google Earth images showed Predator drones parked on the runway.

Confirmation came during the 13 May, 2011 joint session of Pakistan’s Parliament (held in camera) that the Shamsi airbase was under the purview of the UAE and not under the control of the Pakistani Air Force. Obviously, the civil-military hierarchy received hefty sums for handing over Shamsi to the UAE, as would have Nawaz and Raheel Sharif for bartering Pakistan’s sovereignty to China in exchange for Gwadar and the CPEC. Interestingly, Nawaz was also Prime Minister of Pakistan in the early 1990s.

According to analysts, economically it is 11 times cheaper to transport the same goods by sea even to and from China than through the CPEC, although the sea journey is longer. Of course, the CPEC is the alternative to China’s Malacca Dilemma should the Straits of Malacca be choked. The question here is whether the Malacca Dilemma is created by China on purpose and hyped for consumption by the Chinese people? If China’s intentions are ‘peaceful’ as bandied about perpetually and the world is for freedom of navigation and global commons, under what circumstances would the Straits of Malacca, and even Sunda Straits, be blocked for Chinese commercial ships and its navy, and for what

A closer examination would indicate that such an eventuality is highly unlikely, even with the Indian Ocean veering towards becoming the centre of gravity for future conflict, given the lethality and reach of modern era weaponry.

Under cover of economic activity for “mutual benefit” and “good for the region”, what China will never admit is that the CPEC is China’s Strategic Highway to the Indian Ocean. The Chinese are masters at strategic deception: Talk peace, prepare for war and conceal true intentions. The CPEC became even more important when Myanmar denied China the use of its territory for a similar strategic purpose. China keeps harping for India to join the CPEC but on the question of land access for India to Afghanistan and Central Asia, Beijing responds that the CPEC is only a bilateral arrangement with Pakistan.

The obvious intention is to keep India restrained, plus if the CPEC is only a ‘bilateral’ arrangement then why the façade of asking India to join it? Clearly, Gwadar is a future Chinese ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) base, which together with the Pakistani naval bases of Karachi and Omari to which China has access, would challenge India at sea.

But what should also be of most concern is the Chinese history of creating ‘depth’ to whatever it considers vital in strategic terms. Immediately, on ousting the Kuomintang regime, Mao Tse Tung announced, “Tibet is the palm of China and Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and North East Frontier Agency are its fingers”. Tibet was annexed by China also because it comprises 26 percent of China’s land and is the country’s water tower. Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia were captured to provide a buffer to the mainland. China captured 38,000 square kilometres of Jammu and Kashmir to give adequate depth to its Western Highway.

Going by the same analogy, what would be the Chinese strategy for providing ‘depth’ to the CPEC running through Pakistan (from North to South), which itself is obsessed about strategic depth? Moreover, the CPEC is running through Gilgit-Baltistan that is afflicted with public dissatisfaction and shifting it West is not possible because of the highly volatile FATA region. But most of the CPEC can’t avoid Balochistan where insurgency simmers because of the Pakistani genocide.

Under the circumstances, the CPEC can become the target of terror attacks. So what better strategy to provide depth to the CPEC but through sub-conventional operations (read terror attacks)? And precisely this appears to have been operationalised. China has deep links with Taliban even the membership based in Qatar, while Pakistan has a hold on both Talibans (through the Haqqani Network chief Sirajuddin Haqqani). The Islamic State in Afghanistan-Pakistan is the creation of Pakistan, and most importantly, all Pakistani proxies are also Chinese proxies. That is why with the strategic-yet-covert lodgment of the PLA in PoK and Pakistan, terror attacks in Afghanistan and violence in Jammu and Kashmir (including ceasefire violations by Pakistan) have shot up exponentially.

The Pakistani objective of carving out more Afghan territory for strategic depth (implying influence at sub-conventional level) is in sync with China’s strategic designs. Pakistan’s growing hostility towards India suits China similarly. Repeated terror attacks in Balochistan aids Pakistani designs to subdue the Balochi population and eliminate as many non-Sunnis as possible.

Terror attacks against Balochis suit China very well too as it discourages Balochi insurgents from any feeble attempts to disrupt the CPEC which is guarded by the Pakistani Army.

On balance, the CPEC has by default or design become a “Highway of Terror” – more for exporting terror than being subjected to terror attacks.

The author is a veteran Lieutenant-General of the Indian Army

Interim Report of Senate’s Special Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) strongly recommends laying of a parallel pipeline along the proposed road to Tajikistan to bring natural gas from Tajikistan to Gilgit. The 3rd Interim Report of the Special Committee on CPEC was laid by Senator Taj Haider in the Senate on Friday.

According to the report, the Committee notes that Tajikistan and China are working on a 1000 km long $10 billion gas pipeline project to supply 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year (Line D) from its super giant Galkynysh gas filed to China. “The Pipeline from gas filed will be going in a North-East direction. Connection from this pipeline will also serve domestic market of south eastern Tajikistan. Let us explore the possibility of negotiating small modifications in the TAPI agreement to supply Gil-Baltistan with natural gas from Tajikistan. The Committee can constitute a sub-committee to assist in any negotiations in this regard with the government of Tajikistan and Afghanistan,” the committee report said. Pakistan has already signed TAPI, the agreement to bring natural gas from Tajikistan to Pakistan through Afghanistan.

According to report, (i)the recommended preparation of logically and scientifically made estimates of the traffic to be generated on CPEC route along with estimates of its yearly growth (ii) Construction of two lane Highway on the opposite bank (facing Karakoram Highway) (iii) Construction of bridges on Karakoram Highway (KKH) at every 10 km distance, (iv) Construction of Northern alternate route connecting Gahkuch with Chitral (v) Construction of metalled road from Imit to Khora Bhurt (Wakhan border), (vi) Start of negotiations with Afghanistan and Tajikistan to take the road to its meeting point with the highway in Tajikistan across Wakhan, (vii) Start of negotiations with Tajikistan and Afghanistan on modification of TAPI for laying gas pipeline from Tajikistan to Gilgit, (viii) Construction of road connecting Astore with Neelum valley, (ix) Study and pre-feasibility or Yarkand-Skardu road and (x) Construction of road between Samair and Passan.

The report further said that the Special Committee also recommended removal of’ bottlenecks if any in foreign investments and issuance of sovereign guarantees for projects to be constructed in Gilgit-Baltistan. About the electricity, the report said that the Committee recommended (i) Inclusion of identified Hydroelectric Power Projects (HPP) in CPEC (List provided), (ii) Start of construction of Regional High Voltage Grid connecting all generation points and supplying electricity to all parts of Gilgit-Baltistan and (iii) Connections or Regional Grid with the National Electricity Grid and (iv) Identification or appropriate sites for construction of an International Airport near Gilgit.

The Committee also recommended consultations with experts and the stakeholders for identifying areas for the establishment of Special Economic Zones and Special Industrial Zones. Expansion of Skill Development programs in consultation with AKRSP and other stakeholders. It is also recommended to have negotiations with the Chinese authorities for the resumption of exports of fruits to China. It is noted with concern that there are many indications on the ground that the Agreed Western Rout of CPEC is not being given priority as announced by the Prime Minister.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said that China Pakistan Economic Corridor was Pakistan’s strategic economic initiative that has attracted the world in general and regional countries in particular.

“CPEC has changed the negative security narrative into an exceedingly positive economic narrative for Pakistan,” he said while chairing a meeting to review progress on CPEC at PM House. He said the successful implementation of the projects under the umbrella of CPEC was a manifestation of the strong and time-tested friendship between China and Pakistan, adding that its success has been substantiated by massive foreign investment in Pakistan.

He said there was a compelling reason for international investors to investment in Pakistan because of the success story of CPEC initiatives. The meeting reviewed at length the benchmarks set for numerous energy, transport infrastructure and industrial projects. They also discussed the deliverables with particular focus on development of Gwadar Port along with socioeconomic uplift projects in the area.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan’s economy was in shambles in 2013 when the present government came into power. He said it was China that supported and helped Pakistan in the economic revival at such crucial juncture for which the government and people of Pakistan were indebted to the Chinese leadership and people of China.

“The visionary Chinese leadership supported us in translating the idea of CPEC into reality,” the prime minister remarked. Recalling his first official landmark visit to China in July 2013, the prime minister said that the visit marked a new phase in the development of the bilateral relationship by putting economic cooperation and connectivity squarely at the centre of the bilateral agenda.

The meeting was briefed that energy projects under the CPEC including coal, hydel, wind, solar as well as transmission lines were on track. The participants of the meeting were briefed on the status of each and every energy project under CPEC in terms of timelines, transparency and cost effectiveness.

He said besides the infrastructure projects, including road, rail and aviation, data connectivity was also being executed simultaneously on fast track basis.

The meeting was informed that early harvest projects under the CPEC would be completed by 2017-18.

The meeting also deliberated at the multiple passages of CPEC across the length and breadth of the country. The prime minister reiterated that no region or territory must be left behind in reaping the benefits of CPEC.

The meeting took significant overview of the Gwadar projects including Gwadar East Bay Expressway; New Gwadar International Airport; Necessary facilities of fresh water treatment, supply and distribution; Technical and Vocational Institute; Pak-China Friendship Hospital; Development of Free Zone and Gwadar Smart Port City Master Plan.

It was emphasised that local population must be given priority while giving incentives for industries. The participants of the meeting were apprised of the recent developments and progress to boost industrial cooperation between China and Pakistan

ASHGABAT: Pakistan on Saturday decided to accord approval to a Russian request for using the Gwadar Port for its exports as Moscow has also showed its willingness to be part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Following Iran and Turkmenistan, Russia has decided to use the Gwadar Port for trade to have an access to warm waters, a top official privy to the development told Geo News.

Russia also wants to join the CPEC to reap maximum dividends. In addition, Russia aspires to develop strategic defence ties with Pakistan, Geo News reported. Islamabad has moved forward with a green signal allowing Russia to use the Gwadar Port for trade.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that many countries wanted to join CPEC as half of the world would benefit from the project.