South Asia Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Claude Rakisits writes for Australian Strategic Policy Institute on Pakistan-China relations in light of the $46 billion Chinese investment in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor:
In the last few months Pakistan’s Government has made a number of decisions that have drawn the country even further into China’s geostrategic orbit. And although China and Pakistan have had a long and fruitful relationship for well over fifty years, it was the launch of the 2,900 km China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) during a visit to Pakistan by Chinese President Xi Jinping in April that qualitatively changed the relationship. This $46 billion CPEC project, which involves the construction of roads, railroads and power plants over a fifteen-year period, comes on top of other previous important Pakistan–China agreements in the military, energy, and infrastructure fields.