{"id":122173,"date":"2022-01-16T16:17:33","date_gmt":"2022-01-16T23:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=122173"},"modified":"2022-01-16T16:17:33","modified_gmt":"2022-01-16T23:17:33","slug":"afghanistan-pakistan-sri-lanka-bangladesh-and-nepal-need-china-in-their-development-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2022\/01\/16\/afghanistan-pakistan-sri-lanka-bangladesh-and-nepal-need-china-in-their-development-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh And Nepal Need China In Their Development Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pathik Hasan, Dhaka, Bangladesh<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

It is true that South Asia needs\nChina in its development process because \u2018China\u2019 is synonymous with the term\nDevelopment\u201d. China\u2019s ambitus project \u2018Belt and Road Initiative\u201d provides\nbenefits for almost all South Asian Countries. Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and\nPakistan are benefitting from the project directly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, China helps most\nof the South Asian States through its Covid-19 Vaccine Diplomacy. South Asian\ncountries always gain support from China in their crisis moment. \u2018Vaccine\nDiplomacy of China\u2019 is just an example to understand the reality. China helped\nBangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Maldives, etc. in South Asia providing\nthe covid-19 vaccine and medical equipment. China has proved already that it is\na well-wisher and friend of South Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case of China\u2019s connectivity\nproject, Afghanistan is on the way to this journey. If everything is okay in\nAfghanistan, then a number of Chinese Investments would bring prosperity to\nAfghanistan. If Afghanistan connects itself with the \u2018China-Pakistan Economic\nCorridor\u201d, it would benefit directly from the Chinese project.  An article\npublished in Pakistan\u2019s daily Pak Observer on September 15, 2021, titled How CPEC matters for\nAfghanistan\u201d<\/a> shows that Afghanistan should and must move with China for\nensuring its maximum business interest. It is China that can contribute to the\nsector of socio-economic-infrastructural development in war-ravaged\nAfghanistan. China Jiangxi Copper said in mid-September that the company and the\nMetallurgical Corp of China (MCC)will develop Mes Aynak mine when the situation\nallows\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pakistan itself is a major\nbeneficiary from the Chinese multi-billion project \u2018CPEC\u2019. China is building a\nport that is going to be a regional trade hub amongst South Asia, Central Asia\nand the Middle East. It is true that the all-weather friend of Pakistan is\ndoing everything for Pakistan. Pakistan is also grateful to China. Pakistan and\nChina prove that they are really \u2018All-Weather Friends\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case of Sri Lanka, we hear\nthe notorious term \u2018Chinese Debt Trap\u2019. Basically, it is a partial term. Sri\nLanka is also a beneficiary of Chinese projects. Many say only about the\nChinese debt trap in this regard but no one mentions the Chinese developmental\nactivities in Sri Lanka. China has already invested thousands of crores of\ndollars in Sri Lanka. They have invested heavily in seaports, airports, port\ncities, national highways, and power distribution centers. One question is\nwhether either Sri Lanka would benefit from the Chinese investment or not. Of\ncourse, Sri Lanka can benefit from these Chinese investments. Sri Lanka would\nalso benefit from the Chinese BRI project if its Hambantota port can be used\nproperly. Basically, Sri Lanka can also be a maritime trade Hub when Sri Lanka\nwill start the CPEC fully. Hambantota port and Gwadar port will enhance and\nensure connectivity amongst the Middle East, Western Asia, Eurasia, South Asia,\nSouth East Asia, and East Asia. Sri Lanka will be used as a \u2018maritime hub\u2019 when\nMany countries use its port. Employment of the people of Sri Lanka would be\nensured. Discrimination regarding internal development amongst the regions will\ndecrease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to that, Chinese projects were\nmainly confined to southern Sri Lanka. The Gotabaya Rajapaksa government has\nnow approved a number of Chinese initiatives in northern Sri Lanka as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February this year (2021), Sri\nLanka approved China’s hybrid wind and solar power projects on three islands in\nJaffna. There might have some problems with implementing these projects.\nHowever, China focuses to develop the socio-economic development of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh has been gaining from\nChina. Bangladesh is one of the major trade partners of China in South Asia.\nBangladesh\u2019s some very important mega-projects such as Padma Bridge, Payra\nPower Plant, the Bangabandhu Tunnel under the Karnaphuli River, etc. are being\nimplemented by Chinese investment. It is true that China is considered now a\nstrategic partner in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has joined \u2018BRI\u2019 in 2017. The two\ncountries have continued to work together on Belt and Road cooperation. As many\nas 97% of Bangladeshi<\/a> products now enjoy duty-free access\nto China<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China is moving forward taking its\ngreat plan and initiative to develop the socio-economic condition in South\nAsia. China has chosen Nepal and Pakistan as its gateway to South Asia, Central\nAsia, and Western Asia to some extent the Middle East. So, China is moving\nforward with various plans to keep Nepal in its hands. Following this, China\nhas invested billions of US dollars in Nepal in 2017. China will invest another\n10 billion in Nepal’s infrastructure, including road, rail, and fiber cable\nconnections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Xi Jinping paid a\nsuccessful state visit to Nepal in October 2019 and the Presidents of the two\ncountries announced the elevation of China-Nepal relations to a “Strategic\nPartnership of Cooperation Featuring Ever-lasting Friendship for Development\nand Prosperity”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chinese cooperation in building\ninfrastructure, industries, highways, hospitals, schools, sports, and\ncommunication facilities has been very useful and highly appreciated by the government\nand people of Nepal. In the near future, the completion of the railway from Lhasa-Shigatse to\nKerung<\/a>\nis going to have far-reaching impacts on Nepal\u2019s trade, tourism, and\npeople-to-people relations with China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diplomatic relations between China\nand Pakistan are very old, dating back to the 1950s. Pakistan’s recent strained\nrelations with the United States seem to have revived the old relationship. The\nChina-Pakistan Economic Corridor, also known as CPEC, is being created. China\nhas declared to invest worth 46 billion US Dollars in Pakistan for implementing\nits great project China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.\u201d To ensure that, the CPEC\nagreement was signed during Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan in April 2015. CPEC\nor CPEC is part of China’s One Belt, One Road or One Region, One Way project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In line of the above mention\ndiscussions, we can easily draw a conclusion that South Asia needs China as a\ndevelopmental partner.  All South Asian countries including even India and\nBhutan could benefit from the Chinese initiatives if Sino-Indian strained ties\ncould be solved diplomatically. China is not only for China; China is for the\nworld including South Asia. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pathik Hasan, Dhaka, Bangladesh It is true that South Asia needs China in its development process because \u2018China\u2019 is synonymous with the term Development\u201d. China\u2019s ambitus project \u2018Belt and Road Initiative\u201d provides benefits for almost all South Asian Countries. Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are benefitting from the project directly. On the other hand, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-md-pathik-hasan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}