China on Monday refuted a recent report in a financial publication calling the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as part of a major ‘debt-trap diplomacy’.
In a statement issued by the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, China said, “The report from the Wall Street Journal severely deviates from the facts. As a major pilot project of Belt and Road Initiative, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has achieved great progress in the last 5 years.”
“CPEC has effectively alleviated energy crisis and infrastructure shortage which are considered as two bottlenecks in Pakistan’s development, and played a positive role in maintaining the relatively high economic growth in Pakistan,” the statement added.
The Chinese embassy rejected the claims that CPEC led to the debt crisis in Pakistan.
“This is a highly irresponsible statement that fails to reflect the reality… From this perspective, even if there is a so-called “debt trap”, the initiator is not China. As to the people who fabricated the lie that the so-called “debt trap” in Pakistan is caused by CPEC, if they are unable to offer tangible assistance to Pakistan, they can at least try to put the sincere cooperation between other countries in perspective.”
The Chinese embassy stated that cooperation under the CPEC “has always adhered to the principles of mutual benefit, equality, and reciprocity, follows the golden rules of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits”.
Maintaining that no country in the initiative is dominating the other, the statement highlighted that “planning and implementation of the CPEC have been discussed by both sides in the open”.
