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The article was published by the Financial Times (FT) on Monday and titled: "Pakistan rethinks its role in Xi's belt and road plan." Citing a key advisor to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying the CPEC "unfairly benefits Chinese companies," adding that Pakistan must "put everything in suspense for a year so we can act together."
A statement issued by the Pakistani Ministry of Commerce said the Pakistani government "rejected the article especially the title". Radio Pakistan, the country's official broadcaster, also reported on a statement by the government that Pakistan and China will continue to work on the implementation of ongoing CPEC projects and extend the initiative. new areas of cooperation.
"Statements attributed to the Prime Minister's advisor on trade and textiles have been taken out of context and distorted," said the Ministry of Commerce's statement and reaffirmed that the CPEC is a "national priority of the government".
The statement from the Chinese embassy called FT's article "malicious" and "based on distorted and misquoted information".
China and Pakistan have reached a "strong consensus that the CPEC is a mutually beneficial project and the two governments will pursue it according to the needs of Pakistan," said China through its embassy in Islamabad.
Radio Pakistan, far from putting it on hold, said the two governments would work on new areas, including socio-economic development, poverty reduction, anti-corruption, agricultural cooperation and industrial development. She said that this determination to develop the Pak-China partnership had been achieved during the recent three-day visit of the Chinese Foreign Minister to Pakistan.
However, Abdul Razak Dawood, Prime Minister Imran Khan's advisor on trade, textiles, industry and production and investment, reportedly denied the Financial Times.
"The previous government did not work well with China on the CPEC – they did not do their homework properly and did not negotiate properly, so they gave a lot," Dawood said.
The Chinese will unfairly benefit more than Pakistan, Dawood added.
"Chinese companies have benefited from tax breaks, many breaks and an unfair advantage in Pakistan, this is one of the things we are looking at because it is not right for Pakistani companies to be at a disadvantage," he said. Dawood said.
He went further.
"I think we should put everything on hold for a year so that we can act together … Maybe we could stretch the CPEC over a period of about five years," said Dawood.
His statements echoed the Prime Minister's statements before he came to power. At the time, Khan did not always have good things to say about the CPEC project. He was especially concerned about what he thinks is the lack of transparency and the possibility of widespread corruption in the myriad of CPEC projects.
After becoming Prime Minister, it appeared that Khan had softened his tone on CPEC.
In an interview with a Chinese daily a few days before the country's general election in July, he said, "The corridor project has brought many positive changes to several areas of the Pakistani economy," the Pakistani daily reported. Daily Times. Guangming Daily.
"The changes prove that the corridor has a positive effect on the development of Pakistan, and I believe that the construction of the corridor in the medium and long term will be firmly guaranteed and will continue to be implemented," Khan told the Chinese newspaper.
Interestingly, state-backed Chinese media said in July that the new Pakistani government was continuing to promote the CPEC, despite Western media "questioning Imran Khan's reservations about the project" .
The Chinese newspaper Gobal Times also warned Khan that Western media would "try to create a corner" between Beijing and Islamabad.
"It is also predictable in the future that Western countries and media will continue to ask a question about China's corridor and investment in Pakistan in an attempt to create a gap between China and Pakistan." The new Pakistani government should be particularly careful, "said the article in the People's Daily media, the spokesman for the Chinese Communist Party.
