China & Pakistan: What $46 billion buys

The Economist

Xi Jinping, China’s president, today completes a two-day visit to Pakistan, marked by an effort to bolster an important strategic partnership with drastically enhanced economic ties. China has proposed a “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor”, one part of its plan to build “new Silk Roads” to improve infrastructure links with its neighbours. The corridor, to run from Gwadar, a Chinese-built port on the Arabian Sea in the Pakistani province of Balochistan, to Kashgar in China’s western region of Xinjiang, is estimated to cost a staggering $46 billion. For China it offers a new route to Gulf oil and European consumers; for Pakistan an unprecedented economic boost. But it will not be easy. Baloch-nationalist insurgents have at times attacked Chinese targets, and Pakistan has many other sources of political instability. And India, whose prime minister, Narendra Modi, is due in China next month, will be wary of China’s efforts to stabilise and strengthen its nuclear-armed neighbour.