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RFA: Xi’s One Belt One Road Initiative Faces Major Issues

Radio Free Asia (RFA) Chinese Edition recently reported that, the symbolic China-Pakistan Corridor, which is a key piece of the One Belt One Road initiative, is now facing serious challenges. The problems lie in the Port Gwadar Project, which is a US$62 billion undertaking. Gwadar is the ending point of the China-Pakistan Corridor, which is located in Southwest Pakistan. The project planned to construct the port facilities, roads, railways, oil pipes, tens of factories and Pakistan’s largest airport. However, seven years after the project’s initiation, the airport construction hasn’t even started and the investment money has been late for three years and still counting. The industrial park south of the airport shows no sign of starting. The port now has only three berths and the only visitor to the port was the Pakistan Navy. The planned weekly cargo ships from Karachi are nowhere to be seen. Some experts think that the true objective of building the port was to establish a Chinese naval base named Jiwani. According to public records, the main challenge to the China-Pakistan Corridor is money. So far, the initiative has only completed less than one third of the project, costing US$19 billion. Pakistan has not been able to continue the construction work due to lacking further funding.

Source: RFA Chinese, March 4, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/pakistan-belt-03042020052407.html