Chinese media plays down criticism of economic corridor within Pakistan

Beijing: China's official media on Tuesday played down the growing criticism within Pakistan over the $46 billion CPEC, saying the project has made "remarkable progress" though India has opted for "disrupting" the initiative.

"Three years on, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), described by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as a "game changer" for the entire region, has entered into full implementation in 2016 and remarkable progresses have been achieved," a commentary in the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Referring to Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong's comments, it said 16 early harvest projects, including several power stations, highways and projects related to Gwadar Port, were under construction and tens of thousands of new jobs have been created for local people.

Last month, China started operating the Gwadar Port which is being connected with Xinjiang through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir by dispatching ships loaded with goods brought by trucks from China to Middle East.

"There are at least 39 projects, (in CPEC) the majority of them related to energy, where obvious progress has been seen during 2016," Saeed Chaudhry, director of the Islamabad Council for International Affairs, told Xinhua in a recently.

Mr Chaudhry's remarks include the second phase of upgrading the Karakorum Highway from Havelian to Thakot and the highway linking Pakistan's largest cities of Karachi and Lahore.

Both of the two highways have been smoothly implemented and for the former, the Abbottabad Tunnel construction project has begun and seen substantive progress, it said.

While Xinhua report lauded the progress of the CPEC, an article in the state-run 'Global Times' criticised sections of Pakistani media for taking a critical view of the project.

Written by a research fellow in the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), the article criticised Pakistani journalist Cyril Almeida for putting out "irresponsible tweets" against the project.

"There is no denying the fact that there has been criticism of CPEC in Pakistan. There has been criticism of the government of Pakistan, mainly of the ruling party, over the percentage of shared routes of CPEC in Pakistan," it said.

"Every province wants to get the most out of it. It is like fighting over a cake before eating it. But even then, no political party ever raised objections against China. Rather, if there is one country over which Pakistan's political parties are united, it is China. The fight among the political parties is 'over CPEC' and 'not against CPEC'," it said.

The report also said it was "undeniable" that there have been controversies over CPEC and particularly, on the 'Belt and Road Initiative' of China.