The Dragon from the Mountains

"This book is a study of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that ranges vastly beyond the Pakistan-centric literature that is commonly used in related studies. It delves into the history and contemporary experience of big infrastructure, thinks carefully about the economic development of Western China, draws from the long-established Chinese investment projects across Africa, and grounds this in a careful political economy understanding of contemporary Pakistan. It seeks to explore the pervasive politico-economic question of whether the CPEC is a Falcon Economy or debt-induced dependency. The work draws on an extensive literature that has analysed in detail the functioning of Special Economic Zones across various countries in Africa, where the China-Africa engagement is well into its second decade and offers important lessons for Pakistan. An aspect of the rationale of this book comes from looking more closely at China, not just as a source of financing and FDI, but at the economic changes that are happening in Western China, that part of China to which Pakistan will be tethered by CPEC infrastructure. New roads don't just make it easier for firms in Pakistan to export, they also make it easier for Chinese firms to export to Pakistan. It makes a substantial difference if industrial enterprises are opening in Western China and are readying themselves to export high-quality and low-cost production to Pakistan. How does this impact the Pakistani industry? This book looks in detail at economic development in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang and thinks carefully about the implications for Pakistan"--