China–Pakistan Economic Corridor and Sustainable Development Goal Implementation in Pakistan: Fostering Sustainable Connectivity in a Fragile Context?

Abstract

In November 2017, the governments of China and Pakistan signed an agreement on the Long Term Plan (LTP) for the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC; 2017–2030). Together with numerous memoranda of understanding (MOUs) and roadmaps, this agreement sets up a framework for bilateral cooperation to navigate the development and implementation of the CPEC, a pilot project within Beijing’s grand foreign policy strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The CPEC provides a 3,000-km network of highways, railways, and oil and gas pipelines to link the Pakistani city of Gwadar to China’s Xinjiang. By significantly upgrading Pakistan’s domestic and international connectivity, the project has the potential to transform Pakistan’s state and society along with its turbulent regional environment (Wolf, 2018, p. 87). Based mainly on primary sources (such as policy documents), this article identifies synergies between CPEC-related policies that aim to strengthen the political, physical, economic, and people-to-people connectivity between China and Pakistan and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the latter country. In doing so, this policy dialogue will also shed light on China’s role in global development governance.