Prospects of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: A Critical Appraisal

Changes in geopolitical and geo-strategic regional and global whirlwinds have forced states to rethink and re-conceptualize their functions and positions. Mutual economic-political and strategic importance propels them to form new alliances and sign new pacts and protocols. New ways of global and inter-regional economic cooperation and exchange in the contemporary world have acquired the centrality at the international relations level. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a joint Sino-Pak initiative, has become the flagship inter-regional connectivity and integration project. The CPEC would connect the regions in order to encourage regional and inter-regional trade and trade cooperation, which would improve the economic activities that would become useful in sealing off the vicious cycle of poverty. Some regional and non-regional states have, however, expressed their reservations about CPEC.