China’s Silk Road: Can they Appease Pakistani Militants

Kerry Lear

8 years ago

It appears as though China has hit one of the many bumps in the silk road&period; Laborers working in Pakistan&rsquo&semi;s province of Baluchistan&nbsp&semi;are being gunned down by militants&period;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;On Friday, three Pakistani workers were killed while making a trip to buy daily supplies in Hoshab, a small town about 175 miles from the construction site in Gwadar&period; &nbsp&semi;&NewLine;&ldquo&semi;Gwadar&rsquo&semi;s deep-water port is the exit point for a planned route from China&rsquo&semi;s far western region of Xinjiang to the Arabian Sea and is expected to start functioning by June 2018, an adviser to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told Reuters this month,&rdquo&semi; writes Reuters&period; &ldquo&semi;Pakistan expects up to 4 percent of global trade to pass through it by 2020, he added&period;&rdquo&semi;&NewLine;A few days prior, the separatist Baluch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for killing ten laborers also working on the project&period;&NewLine;According to the Financial Times, China has been secretly engaging in talks with Pakistani tribal separatists&nbsp&semi;for the last five years in anticipation of this issue&period;&NewLine;The communist country usually doesn&rsquo&semi;t get involved in domestic politics of other countries, but China is especially invested in protecting the &dollar;60 billion project in Gwadar port, along with the others on the Silk Road route in Pakistan&period;&NewLine;&ldquo&semi;The Chinese have quietly made a lot of progress,&rdquo&semi; said one Pakistani official&period; &ldquo&semi;Even though separatists occasionally try to carry out the odd attack, they are not making a forceful push&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;&ldquo&semi;The Belt and Road Initiative is portrayed as an economic project &period; &period; &period; but, increasingly, it has significant local political and strategic dimensions Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, International Institute for Strategic Studies Chinese peacekeepers are already in South Sudan, where Beijing has invested in oilfields and is planning to build a rail line,&rdquo&semi; writes Financial Times&period; &nbsp&semi;&ldquo&semi;China has also contributed troops to a UN peacekeeping operation in Mali and even talked about launching attacks against Isis in Iraq, where it has been the largest foreign investor in the country&rsquo&semi;s oil sector&period; Pakistan, which is set to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the infrastructure initiative, is one of the riskiest parts of the world in which to do business&period;&rdquo&semi;&NewLine;China understands that a safer Pakistan means the quicker and less dangerous the silk road projects will be&period; But, will the country handle it the right way&quest; Or will they just pay the militants off&period;&NewLine;Pakistan will be adding a 2,6000 km long fence at its Afghanistan border, which will be policed by the helicopters and surveillance drones the country is planning on buying from the Chinese&period;&NewLine;Even with the recent attacks, militants have been apparently practicing restraint and are reframing from violence&period;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;&ldquo&semi;Today, young men are not getting attracted to join the insurgents as they did some 10 years ago,&rdquo&semi; said one provincial tribal leader to Financial Times&period; &ldquo&semi;Many people see prosperity&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;That means there has to be incentives given&period;&NewLine;&ldquo&semi;China will have to take the interest of local communities into account&period; Supporting an economic agenda that enhances prosperity for Central Asian nationals would ultimately reduce the risk of extremism in the region&period; China will have to combine infrastructure initiatives with projects aimed at increasing ordinary people participation in trade&period; In economic terms, this means to pursue investments that benefit local growth, for example through financing small businesses,&rdquo&semi; writes Global Risk Insights&period;&NewLine;China will have to boost counter-terrorism operations in the area too&period;&NewLine;Author&rsquo&semi;s note&colon; The &ldquo&semi;Silk Road&&num;8221&semi; goes through a lot of areas of instability&period;&nbsp&semi;Evidently, China is attempting an &&num;8220&semi;appeasement&&num;8221&semi; with Pakistan militants&period; This will not likely work and instead, could be the downfall of the project or at least make it much more expensive&period;&nbsp&semi;But, China has proven that it&rsquo&semi;s willing to do whatever it takes to get this Silk Road built&period; If China manages to buy off the regional militants, even if it is temporarily, it could still be polarizing in the region&ndash&semi; all for China&rsquo&semi;s selfish gain&period;&NewLine;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;