ABSTRACT
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a flagship project of BRI, intends to bring China and Pakistan economically and strategically close to each other. It was assumed that this project will bolster Pakistan’s economic future with a new paradigm. However, the nature of investment, the controversies associated with the corridor’s alignment, the opacity of the investments, the conflict in Balochistan, and the manner in which Pakistani civilian and military administration has become embroiled in the multi-billion-dollar project, has made CPEC more of a challenge for China, Pakistan and the region, than a corridor of opportunity. This chapter will try to assess the nature of the project and the various challenges that it entails.
