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Alice Wells’ Anti-CPEC sentiments ignore the facts: Report
January 25, 2020
Islamabad, Jan. 25 (inp): US Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells's anti-CPEC sentiments negate the basic facts.
It seems that she had specifically planned on an anti-CPEC mission during her recent visit to Pakistan, reports Gwadar Pro App.
Pakistan’s civil society responded precisely and conveyed the strong message that Pakistan wants to restore its relations with the US while keeping its national interests as a prime and strategic interest with China intact.
China and Pakistan have been firmly committed to CPEC. It is a consensus-based decision, based on principles of mutual consultation and cooperation for shared benefits. Major progress has been achieved in the past five years, with 32 projects achieving early results.
This has significantly improved local transportation infrastructure and power supply, directly created over 75,000 jobs and contributed one to two percent to GDP growth in Pakistan. It shows that CPEC is playing an important role in boosting Pakistan's socio-economic development and improving people's livelihoods.
Under the CPEC, during its planning or implementation, every project is mutually discussed, carefully studied and jointly implemented by both China and Pakistan. All Chinese companies participating in the CPEC enjoy an international reputation.
All projects strictly follow market-oriented and internationally accepted business models, adopt state of the art technology and strict environmental protection standards. The entire process is open and transparent and is in line with international norms.
Regarding the so-called debt issue, according to statistics from the State Bank of Pakistan, the total foreign debt of Pakistan is 110 billion US dollars. In fact, international financial institutions including the Paris Club and IMF are the largest creditors of Pakistan.
Loans from the CPEC total about 5.8 billion US dollars, accounting for 5.3 percent of Pakistan's total foreign debt. This will never be a burden for Pakistan. Moreover, China will not make unreasonable demands on Pakistan.
Pakistan understands well the ongoing rivalry between China and the US. The US is openly opposing BRI, resisting the rise of China and is overly engaged in containing and countering China. But if they choose Pakistan for this purpose, they might have taken the wrong option.
China-Pakistan relations are unique in nature, and cannot be compared with any other countries. During the seven decades of our friendship, we never had any issue or hurdle and hope in future our relations are set to strengthen even further, the report added.
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