August 11, 2025

The Political Economy of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor: History, Stakeholders and Sustainability with Tayyab Safdar and Hasan H. Karrar

1 hour 9 minutes

Keren speaks with Tayyab Safdar and Hasan H. Karrar about the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a 3,000 km Chinese infrastructure network project currently under construction in Pakistan and a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative. CPEC spans energy, highways, railways, and ports, aiming to connect China's western regions to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan. For China, CPEC offers shorter routes for energy imports and trade; for Pakistan, it offers economic growth, industrialization, and greater regional connectivity.

Tayyab Safdar is the Global Security & Justice Track Director; Assistant Professor of Global Studies & Engagements, A&S at the University of Virginia. His research explores the evolving dynamics of South-South Development Cooperation, with the rise of emerging powers in the developing world like China and India. His research also looks at the implications of increasing Chinese investment in developing countries that are a part of the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), like Pakistan.

Hasan H. Karrar is Associate Professor in the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Lahore University of. Management Sciences. He researches transnational connections and geopolitical alignments between China, Central Asia and north Pakistan, as well as development, governance and securitization on state peripheries, and in the deployment and representation of Chinese economic and strategic power.

Recommendations:

Hasan:

Study, think about, and pay attention to what is happening in Pakistan
Visit Pakistan!

Tayyab:

Pay attention to the local context (beyond nation-state-oriented views to more community-oriented views) when thinking about big projects like CPEC
Also recommends visiting Pakistan

Keren:

Seeing China's Belt and Road, eds. Edward Schatz, Rachel Silvey (Oxford University Press, 2024)

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By Erik Myxter-iino, Juliet Lu and Keren Zhu - edited by Taili Ni

4.9

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