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Baloch versus Beijing: how Chinese investment in Pakistan has energised a violent separatist movement
- CPEC is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and would link the western province of Xinjiang with the Pakistani port of Gwadar
- The problem is that Balochistan, the province through which much of CPEC runs, is riven by Islamist, sectarian, and separatist insurgencies
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A vast Chinese-funded infrastructure project in Pakistan has become a major trigger for separatist insurgents, galvanising their movement as they employ new tactics – including suicide attacks – in an escalation that could rattle Beijing, observers say.
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A deadly weekend attack by gunmen who stormed the luxury Pearl Continental hotel in Gwadar, a port on Pakistan’s southern coast, was the latest high-profile assault linked to the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
CPEC – part of China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative – would link the western province Xinjiang with Gwadar, giving Beijing valuable access to the Arabian Sea and facilitating new roads, ports, and airports for Pakistan.
Multimedia explainer: China’s super link to Gwadar Port
Pakistani authorities routinely tout Gwadar, a former fishing village, as “the next Dubai”.
The problem is that Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest and poorest province through which much of CPEC runs, is a Pandora’s Box of Islamist, sectarian, and separatist insurgencies.
Saturday’s attack was claimed by the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). Chinese and Pakistani investors visiting the hotel, isolated high on a ridge overlooking the port, were the target, a spokesman for the BLA said.
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