BEIJING: Participants of a bilateral China-Pakistan security dialogue on Friday agreed that improved communication strategies and transparency were central to successful and friction-free implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the first major component of the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative.
It is important for people of both countries to know how both the governments are bracing for the political, administrative and security challenges arising from the CPEC projects, Pakistani and Chinese participants concluded at the end of the dialogue held between representatives from the Chinese Association for Friendship (CAF) and Pakistani think-tank Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS). The day-long dialogue series addressed a range of issues, including the complexities of the security landscape in Pakistan, and the country’s response to terrorism and the way forward, China’s role in facilitating political cohesion in Pakistan to ensure success of CPEC and OBOR, the reality and perception of the threats to CPEC, countering the common enemy through state-level strategic communication, and ways to secure CPEC. Chinese scholars from CAF, the Peking University and members of think-tanks gave their assessments of the threats to both the CPEC and the ever-growing Pak-China strategic relationship.
They underscored the need for a more comprehensive joint approach to counter common threats such as terrorism and religious extremism. A few key points can be gleaned from the discussion that highlight some of the concerns Chinese think-tanks have in Pakistan: The instability associated with the region through with the Western Route passes is of major concern. However, given the recent attack in Lahore and the crackdown in Punjab, the Eastern Route is also a challenging proposition. The three primary security concerns are crime (such as political militancy in Karachi), terrorism (such as ETIM, TTP and IS), and sectarian disharmony within Pakistan, as all three coalesce to create problems for the CPEC.
Another matter of concern is the porous border with Afghanistan, and the ease with which infiltration can take place. IS and its expansion, especially perceived by the Chinese to be in the educated middle class in Pakistan, particularly Punjab, is also a major concern. Finally, the Chinese scholars are particularly concerned with mapping precisely what threat each of these extremist groups pose to CPEC, and by association, China and its all-weather partner, Pakistan.
The CRSS delegation comprised Dr Shoaib Suddle, Pakistan’s foremost legal and police reform specialist and former inspector general police and director National Police Bureau Imtiaz Gul, noted security analyst and Executive Director CRSS Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed, Director at the School of Politics and International Relations at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad Zeeshan Salahuddin, Director Communications and Strategy and Senior Research Fellow, CRSS; and Mustafa Malik, Rapporteur and Manager Programs, CRSS. The CAF delegation consisted of Ambassador Wang Shijie, China’s former Special Envoy to the Middle East; Chen Shaoxin, Deputy Secretary General CAF; Jiang Xiheng, Deputy Director General of International Cooperation Department, Development Research Center of the State Council of China; Wang Shida, Deputy Director of South Asia, South-East Asia and Oceania Institute of China Institutes of Contemporary International Studies; and Wang “Khawar” Xu, Deputy Director of South-East Study Center of Peking University.
