全球智库信息集成服务系统

Mahmood A. Khwaja, Sumbul Saeed and Maham Urooj

Introduction:

Pakistan-China relations date back to the Silk Route, but the formal ties began in 1950. Pakistan was the first Muslim country to recognize China as People's Republic and Pakistan International Airlines was the first airline in the world to operate a service to and from China. China has steadily appeared as Pakistan?s largest trading partner (Holtom et al. 2013). The Pak-China relationship has grown steadily since 1960s and now the two countries privilege a deep friendship. The construction of Karakorum Highway (KKH) in 1972 further strengthened this bond. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a part of China?s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative. It is a multifaceted framework of infrastructure, energy and other developmental projects designed to promote regional connectivity among Pakistan, China, and Eurasia. CPEC was inaugurated as a $46 billion investment in April 2015 (Rifaat & Maini 2016) but as of 2017 its worth has increased to $62 billion (Siddique 2017). Because of CPEC, China will discover a relaxed access to the Middle East, Africa and Europe, whereas Pakistan?s infrastructure and overall economy will be modernized (Irshad 2015).