EVENTS

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a cornerstone of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). With investments exceeding $60 billion, it has long promised economic transformation for Pakistan through energy, infrastructure, and industrial projects. Yet, over a decade since its inception, the expected socioeconomic gains remain elusive due to chronic delays in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), escalating debt burdens, governance failures, and severe security threats targeting Chinese personnel and assets. In January 2026, amidst militant attacks on CPEC- related infrastructures in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced the establishment of a Special Protection Unit (SPU), exclusively tasked with safeguarding Chinese nationals across Pakistan. This unit incorporates enhanced intelligence sharing, joint training with China, and integration of modern Chinese technology for counter-terrorism. It represents Pakistan's most significant concession yet to Beijing's longstanding demands for prioritised protection, falling short of outright deployment of Chinese forces, but underscoring the deepening dependency, indicative of China’s strong hold over Pakistan. This Wednesday Seminar presentation analyzes CPEC Phase 1.0: underperforming SEZs; implementation issues; energy corridors that alleviated power shortages but delivered uneven benefits amid high costs; and delayed railway upgrades, constrained by funding and instability. However, Pakistan continues to support China’s Global Development Initiative (GDI), demonstrating how, despite the uneven fallout of the CPEC, the PRC is able to effectively further its foreign policy goals.

Speaker

Sriparna Pathak is Professor of China Studies, and the founding Director of the Centre for Northeast Asian Studies at O.P. Jindal Global University, (JGU) Haryana. She also serves in the capacity of a Senior Fellow, at the Jindal India Institute. Additionally, she is Associate Director at the Motwani Jadeja Institute of American Studies at JGU. She teaches courses on Foreign Policy of China as well as Theories of International Relations. She is also associated with Taiwan’s Doublethink Lab, as a regional partner. She is a recipient of the prestigious CITW Community Fund from Taipei’s Doublethink Lab. Her latest book (co-edited with Monojit Das) is titled, Strategic Evolution of QUAD from ‘Ocean Froth’ to Asian NATO (2026).

Chair

T.C.A. Rangachari is a former career diplomat, he served as Ambassador to Algeria, Germany and France, and in other capacities in China, Pakistan and at the UN in New York and in the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Finance. After leaving the Government in 2006, he was, till 2014, successively, a Visiting Professor and then Director of the Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi. Presently, he is associated with various educational institutions, think tanks and NGOs. He holds a Master’s degree in History from Hindu College, University of Delhi. He speaks Tamil, Hindi, English, Chinese and French.

Please register for the lecture here