The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $62 billion China-funded ‘flagship project’ within China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is fast heading towards the closure of deals on ‘early harvest’ projects. With five energy projects commissioned and several more on course, these should help lift Pakistan’s economic output.

More often than not, the start of the new year is marked with a sense of hope and renewal, a chance to learn from the previous year’s trials and transgressions, a chance of getting things right the next time around. However, if the world has learned anything during the last year that the Trump Administration has been in power, it is that hope, renewal, and learning from past mistakes seem to be far from the top of the administration’s New Year’s resolution list.

It’s no secret that Pakistan and China have recently strengthened their long-standing relationship. With preparations for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor well underway, ties between Beijing and Islamabad seem to be stronger than ever. According to a senior economist in Karachi, “As the U.S. looks inward, China is reaching out.”

China and Pakistan looks to extend their $57 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan.

On November 14, 2017, Pakistan dropped its bid to have the Diamer-Bhasha Dam financed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework. The current Chairman of Pakistan’s Water & Power Development Authority has claimed that the conditions stated by the Chinese for financing Diamer-Bhasha “were not doable and against our interests.” These conditions included the Chinese ownership of the project, including operation and maintenance, and the securitization of the Diamer-Bhasha project by pledging another operational dam.