CHINA PAKISTAN ECONOMIC CORRIDOR (CPEC): PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES FOR REGIONAL INTEGERATION

Abstract

As a flagship of China’s One Belt One Road initiative, China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is pivotal to China’s energy security owing to the growing row in the region of South China Sea among China and other regional and global players. The ongoing contestation between China and other countries in the Asia Pacific has compelled China to look for alternative pathways to meet its increasing energy needs in case of any blockade of the Strait of Malacca as a consequence of any conflict between China and other countries. The CPEC could also bring economic avenues to Pakistan and can foster regional and cross regional economic and trade integration between South Asia, Central Asia, East Asia and West Asia. However, it is also surrounded by some serious challenges ranging from regional security environment, internal instability to political discontent among various political actors in the Pakistani polity

Keywords

• CPEC, Pakistan, China, regional integration, prospects, challenges

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