In Pakistan, Chinese money grapples with a Karachi-Lahore divide
A new administration in Islamabad is spooking Beijing with its calls for transparency over the US$62 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor, but it may be a reflection of internal rivalries that have long been a problem
In 2007, a hurriedly arranged ceremony took place at Gwadar, an Arabian Sea port financed by Beijing and built by Chinese state firms. But the keys to the port were not handed over to the Chinese state port operator by the Pakistani government, as was anticipated. Instead, they were handed over to the local representative of PSA Corp, the Singapore port authority. There were few Singaporeans at the event; the deal was sealed with their local partner Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, a self-made billionaire widely viewed in Pakistan as the blunt edge of powerful business interests centred in Karachi.
The usually media-shy Dawood granted his first official interview to the Financial Times as Wang Yi, China’s foreign policy tsar, flew into Islamabad last weekend to engage the Khan administration in talks about the future of the CPEC.
“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,” Dawood said in the interview, published as the Chinese team left for home. “Chinese companies received tax breaks, many breaks and have an undue advantage in Pakistan; this is one of the things we’re looking at because it’s not fair that Pakistan companies should be disadvantaged.”