Pakistan assures China over safety of joint projects amid fears over deteriorating security
Pakistan’s military has sought to reassure China over the safety of joint investment projects amid growing concerns over the domestic security situation in the South Asian country.
Lt General Asim Saleem Bajwa, Pakistan’s military spokesman, said extra troops would be deployed to guard the flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor – a US$46 billion project that includes railways, roads and pipelines that will connect the northwestern part of China and Pakistan’s Arabian Sea coast.
“For all CPEC-related projects, the first responder will be the army itself,” Bajwa said in Beijing yesterday.
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Bajwa was speaking during a two-day visit to China by Pakistan’s army chief, General Raheel Sharif. Sharif has held talks with Premier Li Keqiang, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission Fan Changlong, and Ground Force Commander General of the PLA Li Zuocheng.
Meeting Li on Monday, Sharif said the Pakistani army took every possible measure to ensure the safety of Chinese engineers working in Pakistan, state-run CCTV reported.
Bajwa said these measures included a force of 15,000 troops, in nine battalions, who were dedicated to providing security for Chinese contractors and corridor projects.
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In addition, in the restive Balochistan province in the southern reaches of the corridor, local paramilitary forces would help the Pakistani military provide security to the projects and military engineers would carry out construction, he said.
Some 12,000 to 13,000 Chinese engineers and labourers are working on the corridor projects in Pakistan, and 16,000 to 17,000 more are expected in future.
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Bajwa said the army had “deliberately looked into” the security concerns.
China and Pakistan have been strengthening military ties, with the two nations engaging in arms sales and defence industry cooperation.
Once finished, the CPEC will grant China quick access to Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. At present it relies on routes through the Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia in the troubled South China Sea.
However, Islamist militant groups are a major threat to the project, and Bajwa said the improved security situation in Pakistan since the summer of 2014 when the government launched a large-scale anti-terrorism operation had also helped to ensure the safety of infrastructure projects.
