The government has reportedly brought forward a plan to renegotiate the terms and conditions of CPEC with China
KARACHI: Since the present government has taken over the reign post the elections of July 25th, CPEC has remained one of the most discussed among the significant areas the present government intends to bring changes to. The government has reportedly brought forward a plan to renegotiate the terms and conditions of CPEC with China. Not much has come forward in terms of negotiations apart from the prime minister taking a trip to China to bring in money to deal with the domestic economic crisis. It is evident the renegotiation rhetoric is only to bring change to how the previous government of the PML-N did things.
The notion that most of the CPEC projects fall on the eastern belt, that is, where Punjab lies is a result of the PML-N government’s reported policies tilting towards the province. But this does not carry weight why the government should rethink the CPEC framework unless it brings Pakistan greater share from what it is already receiving.
Further, as the government here and China have already shown their agreement over the idea of other non-partner countries joining CPEC, it has become even more important that Pakistan secures its share of benefits, however not entirely in the form of loans and external financing.
Ammara Shahid
Published in The Express Tribune, November 10th, 2018.
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