Posted on 10/25/2015 1:04:02 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
China's move to construct five tunnels to open up a new section of the Karakoram Highway in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) last month has signalled Beijing’s intent to go forward with ambitious projects despite India’s increasingly vocal concerns and rising security concerns in the restive disputed region.
In a major project that will ensure year-round land connectivity linking China and Pakistan through PoK, the China Road and Bridge Corporation has constructed five seven km-long tunnels on the Karakoram Highway.
Earlier, this particular section had been cut off on account of a barrier lake formed at Attabad, which had blocked access since 2010 after landslides.
CPEC commitment
Reports in Chinese state media have highlighted the project as signalling Beijing’s commitment to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) plan, which connects the frontier Xinjiang region through PoK to the Gwadar port in Pakistan on the Arabian Sea.
Pakistan’s commitment to set up an exclusive security force to protect Chinese personnel and projects has, at least for now, appeared to assuage Beijing’s concerns about security fears and unrest in PoK.
The next second phase of upgrading the Karakoram Highway is slated to cost $920 million, part of the $11 billion earmarked for a range of infrastructure projects under the CPEC.
A Chinese media report detailed how the newly-paved road through PoK was bringing China and Pakistan closer, quoting a Pakistani businessman who travels from Kashgar in Xinjiang, a distance of 300 km from the Khunjerab Pass, to Gilgit in PoK.
In August, China invited as many as 300 officials and experts from Pakistan and China to Karamay,
in Xinjiang, for a two-day meeting to discuss and take forward new projects on the corridor, including in PoK.
According to Chinese media reports, 20 agreements worth $1.6 billion were signed during the Pakistani officials’ trip.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
PING.
I’m ruined as a historian. Too westernized. Everytime I hear or see any reference to Kashmir, I think of that song by Led Zeppelin on Physical Graffiti. I can hear the explosively powerful dirge-like march of the drums now, complimented with atonal chords of the sitar.
Great point.
The Uyghurs have given China problems for years.
Even in Marco Polo’s writings, Khublai Khan expressed displeasure with Marco Polo for bothering to learn their language first before Chinese. Kublai Khan told him that these followers of Mohamud were a troublesome and rebellious lot.
Seems like nothing has changed since the late 1200s.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.