Cash-strapped Pakistan is vying to appease its all-weather friend China in a bid to restart investment in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), after the bilateral project ran into trouble.
Seeking urgent funds to the tune of $65 billion via infrastructure investment, Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar,on October 20, completed a five-day trip to Beijing. He was also attempting to allay China’s demands regarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the ambitious infrastructure project spearheaded by Beijing from 2015 that has reached an impasse due to disagreements over the Gwadar port in Balochistan.
Meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, Mr. Kakar pledged that Islamabad would ‘not allow anything’ to undermine ties with Beijing, Pakistani publication Dawn reported. Terming the China-Pakistan partnership as ‘made in heaven’, he assured that Islamabad ‘blindly trusted China’ and was committed to CPEC and peace in the region.