China, Pakistan plan ‘economic corridor’ - Li
PAKISTAN: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang Wednesday linked growth
in his country’s restive west with that in sluggish Pakistan, saying the
two sides wanted to create an “economic corridor” to boost development.
Li, on his first overseas trip since taking over in a
once-in-a-decade power transfer in Beijing, congratulated Pakistan on
its recent general election and hailed the countries’ long-standing
friendship.
The Chinese leader held talks with President Asif Ali Zardari and
officials signed a series of memorandums of understanding on economic,
science, technology and energy issues.
Prime minister-elect Nawaz Sharif, set to meet Li on Thursday, will
doubtless be hoping the visit leads to closer trade ties after his
Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party swept to victory in the May 11
general election on a promise to revitalise the struggling economy.
The PML-N faces a daunting array of problems: a bloody Islamist
militancy, sluggish economic growth, high inflation, a crumbling
currency, the threat of a balance of payments crisis and crippling
electricity shortages.
Trade between China and Pakistan hit an annual $12 billion for the
first time last year, according to Islamabad’s foreign ministry, and the
two sides plan to raise this to $15 billion in the next two to three
years.
Li said China’s desire to boost domestic demand and develop its
western region would benefit Pakistan as it seeks to restart its
foundering economy.
“Both sides are of the view that by connecting China’s development
and Pakistan’s development, we can create a joint economic corridor
linking the central and western parts of China and Pakistan,” he said.
“This vision, once realised, will have great strategic significance
for the development of China, South Asia, Asia and of peace and
stability in the region and the improved lives of people in our region.”
China’s western region of Xinjiang sees frequent clashes between mainly
Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese, and Beijing has blamed extremists
trained in Pakistan for some of the violence.
Riots in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi in 2009 killed around 200 people,
leading the ruling Communist Party to tighten surveillance and boost
investment in the region.
There are an estimated 10,000 Chinese people and more than 120
Chinese companies in Pakistan, many working on infrastructure and energy
projects. Beijing built two nuclear power plants in the country and is
contracted to construct two more reactors.
In February Beijing took control of Pakistan’s port of Gwadar, which
through an expanded Karakoram Highway could connect China to the Arabian
Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, a gateway for a third of the world’s
traded oil.
China is also the main source of arms for Pakistan’s military, the
country’s dominant institution, and Pakistan accounted for more than
half of Chinese weapons exports between 2008 and 2012, according to the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Li was met by Zardari on the tarmac at Nur Khan air base in
Rawalpindi next to Islamabad when he flew in from Pakistan’s arch-rival
India, where he promised to open China’s vast domestic market wider to
Indian goods.
Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States Tariq Fatemi said
the visit was crucial in drawing the economic roadmap for the incoming
government.
“Normally foreign visitors don’t go to countries during the interim
setups, but China has recognised that the visit to Pakistan is necessary
even at this stage, and that is why they have organised a separate
one-on-one meeting with Nawaz Sharif,” Fatemi told AFP.
AFP |