CHINA PAKISTAN ECONOMIC CORRIDOR (CPEC): VULNERABLE TO DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL SABOTAGE

Abstract

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) being a flagship project of China‟s ambitious One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative is prone to both domestic and international sabotage events. At domestic level, issues like Baluch insurgency, divisions among the provinces, institutional vagaries, demographic imbalance and environmental concerns are hampering the progress of CPEC. On the international front, it is being obstructed by India, United States, unrest in Xinjiang and the chaotic situation in Afghanistan. India is opposing this project owing to its proposed route through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir that makes China an indirect stakeholder in Kashmir conflict while US is suspicious of China‟s strategic imperatives in the garb of economic projects. However, despite all these hurdles, Pakistan is taking all out measures to offset any hindrance in the way of CPEC.