"When we talk of the next round, I think the best of CPEC is yet to come,” said Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Chairman, the Senate Defense Committee and Pakistan-China Institute, at the 8th CPEC Media Forum on Wednesday. The Forum, themed “Next decade of CPEC: Opportunities & learning from past decade”, was hosted by the Embassy of China in Pakistan, and co-organized by China Economic Net and Pakistan-China Institute on Dec 20 in Beijing, Islamabad and Gwadar both online and offline, Gwadar Pro reported. In the forum, Mushahid Hussain Sayed reviewed the achievements of CPEC in the past decade and clarified the smears of the West against CPEC. He noted the achievements of CEPC by referring to the $25.4 billion of direct investment in Pakistan, 236,000 jobs generated, 8,000 megawatts of electricity, and 510 kilometers of highways by the end of 2022. “28,000 Pakistani students are studying in China and 8,000 of them are doing their doctorate in China. 

So this is, I think, a very important aspect of the whole development,” he added. He said the ML-1 project in the next round of CPEC is going to bring a big transformation in Pakistan's railway infrastructure.  He said the further development of special economic zones, agriculture including new seed technology and new irrigation technology, and efforts in reclaiming the deserts are all extremely important for Pakistan. Mushahid Hussain Sayed also mentioned that the challenges such as fakes news from the West should be solved, by quoting two contrasting narratives respectively regarding China and the US. “In the last 10 years, China invested nearly $1 trillion in the Belt and Road Initiative in more than 3,000 projects, lifting 40 million out of poverty in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. 

While in the last 20 years, in the so-called war on terror, the United States squandered $6.5 trillion in fighting wars in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Somalia and Yemen,” he said. “China talks of modernization, while the US talks of militarization of international relations. China talks of building bridges with Iran, and Saudi Arabia and is trying to solve the issue of Palestine, while the US builds barriers, tariffs, and protectionism.  China focuses on cooperation and connectivity through the Belt and Road Initiative, while the US talks of conflict, confrontation, a new cold war,” he added.

“We stand on the right side of history. We stand with China because China stands with Pakistan on all our core interests, and that is the key element,” he said, adding “because this is a mutually reinforcing relationship.”  He also appreciated the important role of the CPEC Media Forum in countering fake news.  He said that for 2024, the US Congress has allocated $400 million for what is called the counting China influence fund, which is shorthand for propaganda, information warfare, fake news, and disinformation.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP) — Pak-China