As the Wuhan pandemic sweeps the world, wrecking economies and straining societies to breaking point, China is desperately trying to buy friends.
Surveys show that world opinion is divided on China. Not only do people in the US, Canada, Australia and Western Europe view China unfavourably, but so do those in many of its Asia-Pacific neighbours. Indonesia, Canada, Japan, the Phillippines, and the United States all really dislike China – an opinion which has hardened considerably from 2016 to 2019. In 2020, you can guarantee that those poor opinions have plunged even further.
But China does have some friends: notably in authoritarian countries like Russia, Lebanon and Nigeria. Countries whose citizens have more freedoms tend to have less favorable views of China. Countries that score well for wealth and low levels of corruption are also less likely to favour China.
Authoritarian, poor and corrupt, not to mention an inveterate antagonist of perhaps China’s most formidable regional rival: Pakistan is a natural ally for China to cultivate.
India has condemned Islamabad’s decision to construct the Diamer Basha dam on the Indus river in Chilas in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir saying it will submerge large parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Jammu and Ladakh are Indian union territories, while Kashmir is fought over by all three countries.
“India strongly protested against construction of Diamer Basha dam to Pakistan govt. It will lead to submergence of large part of land of Indian UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. We condemn attempts by Pak[istsan] to bring about material changes in Indian territories under its illegal occupation,” Anurag Srivastava, official spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Thursday.
“We have also consistently conveyed our protest and shared concerns with both China and Pakistan on all such projects in Indian territories under Pakistan’s illegal occupation where it has no locus standi,” Srivastava said at a briefing[…]
In 2016, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had refused to commit funds for the dam project, two years after the World Bank declined to fund the project following Islamabad’s refusal to seek a no objection certificate from India.
Enter China.
In May, the Pakistan government signed a Rs 442 billion contract with a joint venture of a Chinese state-run firm and a commercial arm of Pakistan’s powerful military for the construction of the dam.
Much like the rest of its Belt and Road Initiative, China’s apparent largesse is really naked self-interest. Not only is China tweaking the nose of its South Asian rival, but the Chinese Communist Party is creaming the bulk of money from the massive project. Chinese state-run firm China Power holds a 70% share in the consortium building the dam. The other 30% goes into the pockets of the Pakistani military, via Frontier Works Organisation, a commercial arm of the Armed Forces of Pakistan.
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