Geographical Location of Pakistan Pakistan is a country with deserts, wetlands, plains, coastal belt, forested mountains, snow-capped peaks and coastal belt. On the eastern border of the country is India, the north-eastern border of the country is shared by China, the country borders Afghanistan to the west and north-west and Iran to the south-west. Towards the southern coast of Pakistan lies the Arabian Sea. Pakistan has a total area of ​​approximately 796,096 square kilometers; Pakistan occupies a place of great strategic importance in Asia. Geopolitical and Geostrategic Importance of Pakistan Geopolitics or geostrategic refers to the area of ​​study that examines how well a country leverages its geography to achieve its political and strategic objectives. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Although Pakistan has gained many benefits from its important geostrategic location, it has also accumulated many losses due to the same reason. For example, Pakistan has always witnessed huge amounts of investment to be the gateway to landlocked Central Asian countries, but it has also had to suffer enormously due to the global war on terrorism; following the September 11 attacks and direct threats from then US President, George W. Bush, Pakistan felt it had no choice but to provide the US access to landlocked Afghanistan; however, this decision backfired, as Pakistan continues to pay the cost of the decision to this day in the form of increased terrorism and loss of life among its citizens. Pakistan-China relations pave way for CPEC Pakistan and China have always maintained close friendly relations. China has always come to support Pakistan; especially, whenever Pakistan is threatened by India or the United States, China asks for Pakistan's support. China and Pakistan have managed to maintain close relations despite changing times and circumstances. What is CPEC? The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is considered to be the brainchild of Chinese President Xi who presented CPEC as the pilot project of the majestic idea of ​​"One Belt and One Road" (OBOR), also known as Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). . The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), in addition to CPEC, also includes five other international economic corridors, including: 1. The New Eurasia Land Bridge Economic Corridor was also known as the Second Eurasia Land Bridge. 2. The China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor. 3. China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor. 4. China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor. 5. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. 6. Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM). In a state visit to Pakistan in April 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping presented a “1+4” cooperation model. According to this model, the first objective was to build CPEC, highlighting the “1” in the “1+4” cooperation model and focus on building Gwadar port, energy, basic infrastructure and industrial cooperation highlighting the “4” in Model of cooperation “1+4”. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a 3,000-kilometer network of roads, railways and pipelines to transport oil and gas from the port of Gwadar in southern Pakistan to the city of Kashgar in northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region . Financial Parameters Associated with CPEC According to a report published in the Financial Times, Sander and Stacey (2017) note that: • Total investment by China: China plans to invest approximately $55 billion in Pakistan in lieu of CPEC. • Investments inEnergy Projects: China plans to invest around $35 billion in various energy projects across the country. • Size of Chinese Exports: The size of Chinese exports to Pakistan increased from $9.3 billion in 2012 to $16.5 billion in 2015, this rapid expansion in the size of exports is enough to provide an idea of ​​the increase that will be seen in the future. Benefits of CPEC for Pakistan's positive impact on GDP. According to the International Monetary Fund's forecast, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will increase Pakistan's GDP by more than 5% by the end of 2020. Price Water House Coopers (PwC) predicts that if the CPEC plan is implemented with success, Pakistan's GDP will increase from the current $988 billion to nearly $4.2 trillion by the end of 2050 (Hussain D., 2017). Deloitte predicted that for Pakistan the total value of CPEC infrastructure projects would be 17% of GDP (Hussain D., 2017). Job creation and local economic development. The creation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is expected to provide long-term economic and social benefits to Pakistan. In 2014, Pakistan's Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform released a long-term proposal for economic development that set 2025 as the target to transform Pakistan from a lower-middle-income nation to a middle-income nation -high. To achieve this goal, Pakistan aims to attract large amounts of foreign assistance, for this particular reason the development of CPEC is particularly important. Once successfully achieved, CPEC would not only help Pakistan's economic development but also create a huge number of job opportunities. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is expected to create approximately 700,000 direct jobs between 2015 and 2030 and contribute approximately 2.5% to the annual growth rate (Shah, 2017). Eradication of religious extremism. One oft-cited reason for the creation of the CEPC is that it will bring economic prosperity to Pakistan, helping to eradicate the threat of religious extremism. Pakistan believes that the rapid economic development facilitated by CPEC would help stabilize the economic, political and security situation in Pakistan. Disadvantages and Risks Associated with CPEC for Pakistan Debt Trap. The risk is that CPEC will trap Pakistan in a debt trap from which it will never escape. It is estimated that once CPEC becomes fully operational, Pakistan will have to pay around $3.5 billion annually over a period of 20 years. Khurram Hussain, a prominent Pakistani economist, calculates these costs as follows: “debt servicing outflows will be about $1 billion and the return on equity will be $646 million if held at 17%. Added to this is the 1.9% capital reimbursement. This means an annual net outflow of $3.546 billion per year once the corridor becomes fully operational” (Hussain, 2016). Another prominent Pakistani economist, Hafiz Pasha, has also expressed reservations about the amount of debt Pakistan will undertake to build the CPEC. He estimates that CPEC debts would amount to approximately $14 billion of Pakistan's total debt, bringing it to approximately $90 billion by the end of fiscal 2019 (Venkatachalam, 2017). What is more frightening to note is the fact that Pakistan has no prepared strategy to repay the growing Chinese debt burden, as Khurram Hussain ironically notes that when the IMF team asked Pakistani officials about their planned strategy to repay Chinese debt, Pakistani officialsthey responded: “further long-term Chinese investments, based on CPEC as a platform, could also help cover expected CPEC-related outflows.” The risk of terrorism. One of the most important risks to the creation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is terrorism. Terrorism has been a significant concern for Pakistan over the last two decades. Terrorism has negatively affected Pakistan's economic growth and development prospects. Although Pakistan has been engaged in a long and arduous battle against terrorism, its battle has not yet succeeded. Because CPEC is extremely important to Pakistan's future economic growth and national prosperity, there are concerns that construction sites and personnel employed at these sites could become a target for potential acts of terrorism. Indeed, there have been several occasions when Chinese engineers working in Pakistan have become a target; many lost their lives in these attacks while numerous others were injured. In September 2016, Baloch separatists killed two Chinese engineers working in Baluchistan and injured several others. Although Pakistani authorities have promised security to Chinese personnel employed in CPEC, this is only a short-term commitment. As time passes and CPEC's transportation network expands to remote areas, it will become difficult to ensure safety for Chinese workers as the costs of providing security personnel and material support will also increase accordingly. To date, it is unclear how Pakistan will be able to ensure a strong military presence to ensure the safety of transport routes. In this regard, Pakistan has not outlined any security plan. Unstable political system in Pakistan. A stable political system in Pakistan is essential for the success of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). One of the major problems plaguing Pakistan since independence is its unstable political system. Power in Pakistan continually oscillates between civilian and military leaders; this caused a lot of unrest in Pakistan. Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf's resignation in 2008 was the last time a military ruler ruled the country, following the 2009 general elections; The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) came to power and completed the first 5 years of a civilian government. After the mandate of the PPP, the PML (N) came to power. For the first time in Pakistan's history, Pakistan's political landscape has become somewhat stable, however, Pakistan's past history dictates that the nature of Pakistani politics is uncertain and anything can happen at any time. This uncertain political culture could profoundly damage the future of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Benefits of CPEC for China Stability of China's western periphery. China firmly believes that a secure and stable Pakistan would only be to its advantage. China believes that any assistance provided to Pakistan in the political, economic or security arena will ultimately result in benefits for itself. China hopes that injecting money to stimulate Pakistan's rate of economic development would not only reinvigorate Pakistan's economy through the construction of oil and gas pipelines and investments in infrastructure and that all this would ultimately lead towards an internally stable Pakistan . Chinese logic is simple; China believes that stability can only be achieved through economic development. A solid and stable Pakistan is essential to Chinese interests as it would ensure stability in China's western periphery, especially Xinjiang province. Help preserve Chinese interests in East Asia. China seesthe CPEC in terms of its strategic advantages in East Asia and how the US continually threatens it. China believes a move to secure and expand strategic space by heading westward would help counter the threat of greater U.S. influence in the east. In this regard, Pakistan is of utmost importance to China as it can act as a bridge between China and Central and South Asia and the area of ​​greatest strategic importance, the Middle East. An internally stable Pakistan would help China exert much greater influence in these regions. This is one of the most important reasons why China is willing to invest large sums of money in Pakistan Economic Corridor. Disadvantages and Risks Associated with CPEC for China Risk imposed by cultural differences. The successful completion of any joint business venture between two entities, companies, organizations or countries, as in the case of CPEC, depends on how well people work and interact with each other. At the heart of every successful business venture are the people, as the actual work on the ground must be completed by them. The better the people on both sides of the joint venture work together, the greater the chances of success become. As China and Pakistan expand cooperation regarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and as more Chinese companies begin to invest in Pakistan, the potential for cultural differences to give rise to misunderstandings increases, which in turn could negatively impact on the success of CPEC. To operate successfully, Chinese society must learn to behave and act according to local norms, cultures and moral practices. It is essential that Chinese companies operating in Pakistan possess sufficient information to conduct business in Pakistan. To ensure the success of CPEC, the Chinese government must also abandon its old habit of dealing only with the Pakistani government and instead ensure people's contact and involvement with local communities. CPEC and India's Dilemma The China-Pakistan Strategic Economic Corridor (CPEC) appears to have greatly threatened Indian interests. India fears that if the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) plan materializes, it will shift power in favor of Pakistan and cause it to lose its position in the world (Kumar, 2016). Statements by various officials occupying high-level positions in the Indian government confirm this fact. Responding to questions in the Lok Sabha in December, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj noted that “the government has seen reports regarding the involvement of China and Pakistan in infrastructure construction activities in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) , including the construction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The government expressed its concerns to China regarding its activities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and asked them to cease such activities” (Chandra, 2016). India's anger over CPEC appears to have been fueled by the fact that the route to the corridor passes through the disputed region of Kashmir. Kashmir has long been at the center of the dispute between India and Pakistan. India has nearly half a billion troops stationed in Kashmir to exercise control over the region. In these circumstances, India considers it unacceptable that a road to the advantage of Pakistan, its bitter enemy, passes through this region. Commenting on the issue, Seshadri Chari, a senior member of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, noted: “China is using Indian territory illegally occupied by Pakistan.” The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, also seems to have been very.