Was China really uncomfortable with Pakistan under Imran Khan?

There is a Chinese proverb that says, “All things change, and we change with them.” None other than Beijing has robustly applied this axiom in its foreign policy domain and in particular, it is glaring in China’s relations with Pakistan. Days after Imran Khan was ousted from the prime ministerial office in the second week of April and Pakistan Muslim League leader Shehbaz Sharif was handed over reign of power, Pakistan Foreign Office received a diplomatic communication through Beijing-based Pakistan Ambassador Moin ul Haque.

The diplomatic cable received by the Pakistan Foreign Office on June 10, said that China has offered to extend $2.3 billion at a much-reduced interest rate. Pakistani daily, The News International which leaked the communication between the Beijing-based Pakistan Ambassador and the Foreign Office, reported that the Chinese leadership expressed its desire to work more comfortably with Shehbaz Sharif because of its past experience with him when he was the Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province. The Pakistani daily which flashed the breaking news on June 13, further reported that the Chinese leadership urged the Shehbaz Sharif government to revive the multi-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

In more than one way, a close reading of the diplomatic communication from Pakistan’s ambassador suggests that Beijing was not happy with Imran Khan. If that was the case then that leaves many questions unanswered.  First question is: If China really disliked the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief?  Second question is: What was the reason behind China’s unhappiness with the former Prime Minister?  Third question is: Was it to do with the multi-billion CPEC project, which became almost non-functional since 2018, the year when the prime ministerial crown was placed upon PTI leader Imran Khan?

In fact, the cricketer turned politician who loved to pitch swings to dominate over his opponents during his cricketing days, was found to be misfit in his position as the head of the government by the Chinese leaders. Because, Imran Khan as the Prime Minister was coming in between China’s goal behind the CPEC project and its implementation.  In 2015, when Nawaz Sharif was Pakistan’s Prime Minister, the CPEC was officially launched.

From the beginning, Imran Khan was not happy with this China-led project. His worry was that lack of transparency and possibility of corruption that a myriad of CPEC projects would generate, would harm Pakistan and its interests. And, this fear was expressed in categorical terms by Imran Khan’s former Adviser on Commerce, Textile, Industry & Production and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood in an interview with the London-based Financial Times on September 9, 2018—one month after the formation of the PTI-led government in Pakistan.

“The previous government did a bad job negotiating with China on CPEC—they didn’t do their homework correctly and didn’t negotiate correctly so they gave away a lot,” Abdul Razak Dawood, the Adviser of then Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said during his interview with the Financial Times more than three years ago. He had also told the London-based daily that “Chinese companies received tax breaks, many breaks and have an undue advantage in Pakistan; this is one of the things we are looking at because it is not fair that Pakistan companies should be disadvantaged.” Abdul Razak Dawood further went on to say that the Pakistan government under Imran Khan would review or renegotiate agreements reached under China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

However, after the Financial Times’ report, based on then Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Adviser’s interview, went viral and many dailies across the world covered it widely, Abdul Razak Dawood issued a clarification on September 10, 2018 in which he emphasized that Pakistan’s commitment to the CPEC would not change.  Even as this was a major U-turn on Imran Khan’s Adviser’s part, the broad contours of the Imran Khan government’s approach towards the CPEC remained unchanged.

The CPEC Authority in a report published after Imran Khan stepped down as Prime Minister on April 11, said Pakistan could complete only three projects in Gwadar, while one-dozen projects costing nearly $2 billion are lying unfinished. Interestingly, the CPEC Authority was created through an ordinance in 2019 by then Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government, to show China that Pakistan would expedite the pace of CPEC-related activities.

An objective analysis of the CPEC Authority would lay bare the fact that it was more a smokescreen than a well-meaning institution to accelerate the CPEC activities. According to the Pakistani daily, The Express Tribune, over 37% of the installed capacity of the CPEC power projects was out of order due to non-payment of dues by the Pakistan government to Chinese investors.

The Imran Khan government was sitting on the clearance of Rs 300 billion dues to Chinese investors. Chinese authorities are said to be furious that CPEC projects including laying of pipeline from Swad Dam in Gwadar to Shadi Kaur Dam, also in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, have not been completed. Chinese authorities are also said to be annoyed with the forensic audit of the CPEC projects carried out by the Imran Khan government. The purpose for conducting forensic audit of CPEC projects, as per the then Imran Khan government, was to evaluate if money was appropriately used.

China was also miffed with Imran Khan as during his government, Pakistani authorities failed to stop attacks on Chinese nationals working in the South Asian country. On July 14, 2021, 13 people, including 9 Chinese engineers were killed in a blast in a bus, they were travelling in Pakistan’s western province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Even as dust on this massive blast could not settle, Pakistan was rocked by an attack on Chinese nationals and interests. On August 20, 2021, at least two children were killed and a Chinese national was injured in a suicide attack in Gwadar.

In November 2018, four people were killed when Baloch Liberation Army carried out a strike on the Chinese consulate.  In August 2018, a suicide attack was carried out on a bus carrying Chinese engineers in Dalbandin, a city that lies in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Three Chinese engineers had suffered grievous injuries in this attack.  

On July 7, 2020, when the entire world was in the thick of the Covid-19 triggered problem, Pakistan occupied Kashmir’s Muzaffarabad city was jolted by a massive anti-China and anti-Pakistan protests. Thousands of people took out a rally in protest against Pakistan and China for illegal construction of two mega-dams on Neelam and Jhelum rivers. The protesters asked under which law the river agreement of the disputed region is signed by Pakistan and China? They said Pakistan and China are violating UN Security Council resolutions by occupying rivers.

Disparity in the wages of Pakistani workers in comparison to their fellow Chinese compatriots has also fuelled anti-China sentiments. On November 18, 2020, thousands of Pakistani labourers staged a protest against China in Pakistan’s Karachi, complaining about unequal wages received by them as compared to Chinese workers involved in CPEC projects. On January 16 this year, massive protests and violence erupted in Pakistan occupied Kashmir over the Chinese move to build a 33-km road from Yarkand in Xinjiang region to Pakistan occupied Kashmir to move its artillery and military personnel in the region.

These developments, it is said, irked the Chinese leadership so much so that its impact could be seen on Beijing’s bilateral engagement with the Imran Khan government. In the first week of February 2022, Imran Khan as the then Pakistan Prime Minister arrived in Beijing on a four-day visit to meet Chinese leadership, including President Xi Jinping.

Imran Khan took with himself a huge delegation comprising of then Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, then Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, then Planning Minister Asad Umar, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary, then National Security Adviser Moeed Yousaf, then Commerce Adviser Abdul Razak Dawood and Special Assistance on CPEC Khalid Mansoor.

However, Imran Khan and his delegation were left red-faced when they were informed that one of the key meetings, for which they had specially from Islamabad to Beijing, would be held in virtual mode. Embarrassed Pakistani delegation had to meet He Lifeng, Chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission and Vice Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in a virtual mode. As if humiliation of the visiting Pakistani delegation was not complete, Prime Minister Imran Khan was able to meet President Xi Jinping on the last day of his four-day visit to China on February 6.

In the Pakistan-China joint statement, issued after the meeting of the two leaders, China explicitly asked Pakistan to step up security for thousands of its personnel working for CPEC projects. As per the joint statement, the Chinese side also expressed its readiness to work with Pakistan in advancing more in-depth development of the CPEC. However, beyond this, there was no detail on the subject which stands as a cornerstone of Beijing-Islamabad relations. Nor was there any commitment from China on Imran Khan’s request for a $3 billion loan, indicating clearly that Beijing didn’t consider the former Pakistan Prime Minister as its comrade of benefits.

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