Start from 27 till the end if one wants to understand the issue
I think this is probably one of the best interviews to understand Pakistani perspective on this situation
(A bit of Background on this guy, he ended the Taliban insurgency in Pakistani territory, so he is as reliable a source on this issue imo)
(summary but still watch it to understand the issue)
- He said yes India is involved in supporting insurgencies in Pakistan, that's out of the question as he experienced it himself during the campaign
- To give China serious damage as far as its ambitions are concerned, destabilizing Pakistan and ending CPEC is very important
by calling Pak areas disputed (it was disputed but historically India never made a fuss out of it and largely accepted the status quo because it was a peaceful region compared to Kashmir), supporting and popping up insurgencies, buying out and creating ideologies to polarize society at large
- names recent incidents of terrorism against China in the country
- Said the Bus incident was a lost opportunity to talk about our side of the story of Indo-US nexus attacking China-Pak interests, Pak is wrongly being apologetic about it and trying to turn it into an accident (I believe they fear lost investment opportunity)
- You cannot decouple US- Indo interests when it comes to CPEC
- CPEC connects 2/3 of the world, with BRI and CPEC as the flagship represents a connection with major chunk of the world economy and will easily propel China into THE most dominant economic powerhouse as far as financial muscle is concerned
- Will US take it laying down? of course not, US will respond
There is no alternative to CPEC route except for Malacca straits itself, CPEC is essential for China if BRI is to succeed, Gwadar has (naturally) potential to accept more Cargo than all of Indian ports combined, can take more than 80 million tons of cargo
- If it becomes as expected/projected in 2030 than all of transshipment trade of the region will be affected which in turn will effect the status quo so no one in the region likes it
- This is a huge problem for Pakistan and to stop the country from becoming a war zone
Pak should be working overtime, bend over backwards to rope in the Americans to come in as a competitor, give them another port, make another project with them so they can compete with the CPEC as a parallel
2 solutions
- Sell them on the minerals of Afghanistan (US is trying to lay of the Chinese rare earths and Afghanistan has a huge deposit of em), so US remains relevant in the region and you don't start fighting a massive proxy war with a superpower and a regional powerhouse in India both trying to land a knockout punch
- China wont be receptive but this is the only answer for a country our size, other answer is try to take the conflict (which is difficult)
to SCS or east of Pakistan but it shouldn't remain in Pak
If it remains in Pakistani territory and develops further, He is convinced doesn't matter if China wins or US wins, Pakistan will be devasted and may not survive as a country like it is in its current form
This CPEC has attracted trouble for Pakistan unfortunately and this will probably get worst, proxy wars are the shittiest wars that can take place in a country, you cant get a cease fire...