CPEC merging China, Pak autocratic ambitions: Report

Islamabad [Pakistan], September 8 : The vision of Chinese leadership and Pakistan Army aligns seamlessly as both seek to appropriate Pakistan's resources to grow their own neoliberal empires, The Diplomat reported.
In a report, journalist Kunwar Khuldune Shahid said that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has helped Beijing and Islamabad to merge their autocratic ambitions. The governments of the two countries also seek to maintain totalitarian controls so that no dissenting questions are posed to either of the two leaderships, he noted.
Shahid said that CPEC links Xinjiang and Balochistan, the hubs of multipronged abuses carried out by China and Pakistan, respectively.
"The visions of the Chinese leadership and Pakistan Army align seamlessly. They both seek to appropriate Pakistan's resources to grow their own neoliberal empires. CPEC itself links Xinjiang and Balochistan, the hubs of multipronged abuses carried out by China and Pakistan, respectively," the report read.
"Both governments also seek to maintain totalitarian controls so that no dissenting questions are posed to either of the two leaderships. And now with the economic corridor merging the duo's autocratic ambitions, it is increasingly evident that, similar to Islam and the army, CPEC has swiftly become a holy cow that can't be questioned in Pakistan," it added.
Referring to a recent investigative report accusing Lieutenant General (retired) Asim Saleem Bajwa, who is the special assistant to the prime minister on information and broadcasting, of involvement in corrupt activities for the last two decades, Shahid said that millions of dollars' worth of financial misappropriation has already been uncovered in the economic corridor that is still under construction.
Amid corruption allegations, Bajwa on Thursday announced that he would step down from his position as the special assistant to the prime minister on information and broadcasting. However, he said that he will continue in his more lucrative role as the chairman of the CPEC Authority.
Shahid says that the selective resignation by Bajwa not only "weakens his own rebuttal; it adds more credence to calls for a change in leadership of the CPEC Authority".
The journalist said that the absolute submission by Islamabad to Beijing is coupled with any questions about China, including its Uyghur concentration camps, being deemed an "attack on CPEC."