Islamabad
Months after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan was ousted as Prime Minister, Islamabad’s Foreign Office received a diplomatic cable from China, stating that they have offered to extend USD 2.3 billion at a much-reduced interest rate which suggests that Beijing was not happy with the former PM.
On June 10, China offered to extend USD 2.3 billion at a much-reduced interest rate.
Publications like Pakistan Daily, and The News International have leaked the communication between the Beijing-based Pakistan Ambassador and the Foreign Office, reporting that the Chinese leadership expressed its desire to work more comfortably with new PM Shehbaz Sharif because of its past experience with him when he was the Chief Minister of Punjab province, source reported.
But, it’s not just a one-way dislike, Imran Khan was also found to be a misfit in his position as the head of the government by the Chinese leaders. Because Imran Khan as the PM was coming in between China’s goal behind the CPEC project and its implementation.
Notably, in 2015, when Nawaz Sharif was Pakistan’s Prime Minister, the CPEC was officially launched.
According to the publication, from the very beginning, Khan was not happy with the China-led project. The lack of transparency and possibility of corruption that China could carry forward through their CPEC projects would harm Pakistan and its interests, was the main worry for Imran Khan.
And, this fear was expressed in categorical terms by Imran Khan’s former Adviser on Commerce, Textile, Industry and Production and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood in an interview with the London-based Financial Times on September 9, 2018.
