I am not sure whether it’s more Pakistan that will find out that China is an unreliable investor. Beijing’s big promise was the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), accounced in 2013 as a flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) It sought to group together several infrastructure projects including energy projects, industrial parks, and transportation networks.

But delayed projects, cost overruns, and allegations of opaque contracts have soon eroded CPEC’s viability, while Pakistan owed billions to Chinese companies for projects that have been delayed or canceled altogether. By 2019, Pakistan was forced to seek a debt bailout with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to address its debt crisis. The country eventually secured a 37-month, $7 billion (IMF) bailout package to avoid bankruptcy.

At the same time China - to whom Pakistan owes a fifth of its foreign debt which, more than to any other country -, offered only a debt reprofiling (this differs from debt restructuring in that the overall debt amount is not cut as only the due date for repayment is extended).

Analysts have long been warning about Pakistan’s deepening strategic reliance on China,

China has deeply penetrated Pakistan’s economic, infrastructure, energy, and security sectors, leaving Pakistan with limited space to make independent choices …

Pakistan’s trade deficit has been increasing in the first 10 months of Pakistan’s fiscal year 2025/2026, largely due to reduced shipments to China.