China’s $57bn megaprojects fuel attacks in Pakistan

The assault on the Chinese consulate in Karachi was the latest in a series of attacks on China’s growing influence in Pakistan, where Beijing is financing tens of billions of dollars’ worth of megaprojects that critics fear will plunder the country’s resources and leave it with crippling debt.

Friday’s attack, which killed two police and two Pakistani civilians, was claimed by ethnic Baluch separatists who have long accused the government of unfairly exploiting oil and mineral-rich Baluchistan. But concern about China’s growing involvement in Pakistan is more widespread.

The relationship has come to be defined by the Chinapakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, a sprawling package that includes everything from road construction and power plants to agriculture – and has an estimated cost of up to $57 billion.

0 A Pakistan soldier stands guard while a loaded Chinese ship prepares to leave the deepwater port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea