The much-touted visit of Pakistan’s Caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Kakar to China that led to 20 agreements, did not stop Beijing from expressing concern about the security of its projects and personnel in Pakistan.
Among the agreements is a proposal to build a research station on the moon’s south pole— a move clearly aimed at rivalling India’s successful moon mission. But diplomats point out that Pakistan’s space programme is hardly worth taking note of. Therefore, if the project is implemented in future, it will be mainly a Chinese initiative with token Pakistani participation.
Kakar’s five-day visit was to attend the 10th anniversary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which was held in Beijing between October 10 to 11.
Though 130 delegates from different countries were present at the summit, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kakar’s presence was important for China.
The $65 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a flagship project of the BRI. Though China has already invested $25 billion in the CPEC so far, it has not been satisfied with the pace of progress of the project in Pakistan.
Kakar was allowed to visit Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang province, where more than a million Uyghur and other Muslim minorities live. The CPEC proposes to connect Kashgar in Xinjiang to Gwadar in Balochistan through a 3,000 km rail-road-sea project.
India is opposed to the BRI as it passes through parts of Kashmir that are under Pakistan’s illegal occupation.
The agreements between the two sides
China and Pakistan signed agreements on coordination on Afghan issues, building trust and coordination between the two armed forces, currency swapping, infrastructure, mining, green and low-carbon development, health, the digital economy, and export of agricultural products.
An agreement was also signed to cover round-the-year functioning of the Khunjerab border crossing between China and Pakistan. At 5,000 metres, it is the highest paved border crossing in the world.
Observers point out that the attempt by the two sides was to come up with an impressive list to match the set of agreements that India and the United States signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to America in June.
“Most of them will remain on paper, unless the Pakistani economic situation improves significantly in the coming years,” observers say.
The slowdown of the Chinese economy and questions about the BRI’s viability in recent months may have prompted Chinese President Xi Jinping to organise the summit in Beijing, to tell the outside world that everything is fine.
Chinese concerns on CPEC
Observers point out that China remains concerned about the slow progress of the CPEC, though the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC), a strategic decision-making body of the CPEC, did express confidence in the project's progress in its recent report.
Also, China has refused to expand cooperation in areas of energy, water management, and climate change. The Express Tribune, a Pakistani daily, has observed that the Chinese refusal underscores “the challenges that both sides are facing in deepening the economic ties.”
Nor did China want to cooperate in the promotion of tourism in Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. It had also refused to listen to the financial challenges that Pakistan power companies were facing, that led to the delay in payments to their Chinese counterparts.
In addition, China has been facing serious security challenges in implementing its CPEC projects in Pakistan.
In December last year, the main road leading to Gwadar Port was blocked due to sit-down protests by locals. Earlier, Chinese workers in Pakistan had been attacked, and even killed.
Indications suggest that the resentment of the local people remains.
Chinese President Xi expressed concern on these issues and sought security guarantees from Kakar when the latter called on him.
“We hope the Pakistani side will guarantee the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel in Pakistan,” Xi told Kakar on Thursday at their meeting.
Pakistan’s space programme
Pakistan’s space programme, known as the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), was set up in 1961.
Its first satellite, Badr-I, was built by SUPARCO and launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, in 1990. Though it claims to have developed the Hatf-I and Hatf-II missiles, it also imported M-11 missiles from China and set up a factory in Pakistan to develop missiles with Chinese help.
Observers wonder what will be Pakistan’s contribution in the so-called research station on the moon’s south pole. The country was to launch its own satellite and launch vehicles by mid-2000, but its space programme has suffered several setbacks, and nothing has been heard about this ever since.
Over the years, SUPARCO has faced a lot of criticism in Pakistan for failing to match India’s prowess in space. The joint attempt with the Chinese for a research centre on the moon is perhaps aimed at silencing its critics at home.
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