The controversy around the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) seems far from subsiding. India is against the mega Chinese project as the Corridor passes through Pakistan-administered-Kashmir (that India considers its own territory). Beijing, which has ignored New Delhi’s stand on this project, recently hinted that it would extend the proposed Corridor to Afghanistan.
The top Chinese political leadership is well aware of the fact that it can’t be possible for Beijing to implement the project without ensuring peace in the region. The problem is that relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have never been cordial. In recent times, the bilateral ties have deteriorated due to Islamabad’s decision to support the Taliban insurgents fighting the US-backed Kabul (in an attempt to limit the influence of its arch-rival India in Afghanistan).
In 2015, China encouraged both Islamabad and Kabul to resolve all the outstanding bilateral issues through peaceful negotiation. However, the two South Asian neighbours did not agree and no meeting took place. Now, China is (once again) trying hard to normalise ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan so that it can extend the CPEC to the war-ravaged South Asian country.
In a rare first, the foreign ministers of these three countries held a meeting in the Chinese capital on December 26. The tripartite meeting emphasised the need to stop harbouring terrorism and the financial support to Afghanistan in an attempt to boost the country’s overall development.

Later, Beijing, Islamabad and Kabul issued a joint statement, saying that the three countries would never allow terror outfits to use their soils. There is no doubt that China and Afghanistan have indirectly asked Pakistan to take necessary steps against terror outfits based in the country. Experts believe that Pakistan has soften its stand on the issue of terrorism not only due to the US pressure, but also to safeguard China’s interests.
Pakistan is under tremendous pressure because of President Donald Trump’s ‘Pak-Afghan policies’ according to which the US will try to destroy Talibans in Afghanistan without Pakistan’s assistance. President Trump also asked Pakistan to stop supporting the terror outfit still active in neighbouring Afghanistan. The warning has prompted Islamabad to soften its stand.
Pakistan is not in a position to ignore China’s interests either. The Asian giant has not only invested a huge amount of money in different Pakistani projects, but also backed its ‘friend’ at the UN on the issue of terrorism. After holding talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani in Beijing, Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said that Islamabad and Beijing were “iron brothers”. However, he did not directly mention the prospect of Afghanistan joining the CPEC. For war-ravaged Afghanistan, the main challenge is to build proper infrastructure and to ensure economic development.

So, the Chinese foreign minister (after the first successful tripartite meeting) told the media: “China hoped the economic corridor could benefit the whole region and act as an impetus for development.” “So, China and Pakistan are willing to look at with Afghanistan, on the basis of win-win, mutually beneficial principles, using an appropriate means to extend the CPEC to Afghanistan,” added Wang.
Although China is relentlessly trying to spread its sphere of influence across Asia, Wang hinted that the CPEC extension to Afghanistan is not directed against India, saying that the mega project is not linked to any territorial dispute.

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Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das