perrinlighteyes

perrinlighteyes t1_jaas3oj wrote

Does anyone remember the early mid 2010s when Pakistanis were talking about China Pakistan Economic Corridor like it would solve all their problems and make Pakistan so economically advanced it would leave India way way behind.

Ther terms "game changer", "checkmating the west and India", "iron brothers" etc were embarrassingly used in every Pakistani news publication.

I have fond memories of arguing on reddit with some Pakistanis that were convinced that CPEC will steal all IT jobs in India. (Like how?)

Anyway, let this be a lesson. If something sounds too good to be true, it's because it is.

Oh found this nugget:

>CPEC's potential impact on Pakistan has been compared to that of the Marshall Plan undertaken by the United States in post-war Europe. Pakistani officials predict that CPEC will result in the creation of upwards of 2.3 million jobs between 2015 and 2030, and add 2 to 2.5 percentage points to the country's annual economic growth.

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perrinlighteyes t1_ja68gp4 wrote

It's sort of neo-colonialism.

Chinese are building a railroad which Pakistan is paying for by taking loans from China. China brings it's own companies and workers to work on it. The railroad will most likely be used to transport Chinese goods from Gwadar to other parts of Pakistan and eventually into China and vice versa.

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perrinlighteyes t1_j6hrg25 wrote

That's not true. We have always bought weapons from multiple sources. Although yes, Soviet Union/Russia make up the big chunk.

We have bought equipment from the UK, France, Spain, Italy, South Africa etc from very early days.

Just as an example, since Independence, there has always been a French Fighter jet serving in the Indian Air Force.

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