Asia Centre conference, 8 October 2019, with Dr. Rifaat Hussain, Professor of Government and Public Policy at the National University for Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, and member of Pakistan’s Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs; chaired by Jean-Luc Racine, Emeritus Senior CNRS Fellow, Centre for South Asian Studies, EHESS and Senior Fellow, Asia Centre. Discussant: Jean-François di Meglio, President, Asia Centre.
Venue: Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris 75006
Synopsis
On the margin of the 2019 UN General Assembly, in a conversation with Pakistan Prime minister Imran Khan held at the Council for Foreign Relations, New York, Richard Haass, the Council’s President, pointed Pakistan as being « on the short list of countries receiving most Belt and Road Initiative investiments » and therefore addressed Prime Minister Imran Khan with two substantial questions: firstly, will this state of affairs not dramatically exacerbate Pakistan’s debt challenge, given the nature of Chinese support ? Furthermore, how does Pakistan claim to retain full sovereignety while inviting China to lead projects on such a scale?
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s answer simply outlined the great opportunity that China represents for Pakistan.
- INTRODUCTION – CPEC IN THE BRI
- BROAD OPPORTUNITIES FOR PAKISTAN
- CHALLENGES AND APPREHENSIONS
- CONCLUSION
- THE DISCUSSANT’S OPENING
Note: The opinions expressed in this report belong solely to the speaker and do not represent Asia centre’s positions or engage any of our associated researchers.