Dr. Dorothée Vandamme (University of Louvain) speaking during EFSAS Seminar in EU Parliament
07-11-2018, Brussels
Dr. Dorothée Vandamme, Research Associate at the University of Louvain, Centre for the Study of Crises and International Conflicts and the Genesys Network and EFSAS Research Fellow, deliberated upon the role of the Pakistani Military Establishment in CPEC. Dr. Vandamme explained that the military establishment in Pakistan has vouched for a more influential and dominant role in the construction of the CPEC and said that the building of the CPEC has only further reinforced the role of the powerful Army. According to her, this has been displayed via the safeguarding of the CPEC project by armed personnel, providing security for Chinese workers and army personnel and thereby trying to ensure the stability and continuity of the project. According to her data, there have been 15,000 troops dedicated to this division, a number which is expected to rise to 25,000, while China remains Pakistan’s largest supplier of arms and continuously keep displaying the pattern of being more inclined towards negotiating with the Pakistani Military rather than with the civil government of Pakistan. Dr. Vandamme reasoned that according to Beijing, the Pakistani Army has proven to manifest greater stability than any civilian government in the history of the country and keeps pulling the strings either when in power itself or behind the screens. Dr. Vandamme also argued that it is very unlikely that the new government in Pakistan will change the poor economic condition of the country due to the lack of financial aid and stated that there may be a clash between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and China if Pakistan turns itself for assistance to the IMF, as the latter will demand more transparency on CPEC in order to provide the necessary funds, which neither Beijing nor Rawalpindi would like to give.
Dr. Dorothée Vandamme (University of Louvain) speaking during EFSAS Seminar in EU Parliament
