China’s central government is urged to give full-blast effort in developing the Pakistan-China railway to help the country extend its political and economic influence in the region, a scholar said as cited by state-owned Reference News.
A sociology professor at the U.S.-based Duke University, Gao Bai has been a continuous supporter of the railway. Gao is also the director of Southwest Jiaotong Univeristy's National Research Center on Strategic Development of High-Speed Rail.
In 2013, Gao said that the railway could be a significant platform for the country's influence expansion over Pakistan. This is apart from bringing about positive impact on the region's political and economic development.
During President Xi Jinping's visit to Pakistan last week, he pledged $4 billion to upgrade the country's rail system.
The leaders of the two nations have also agreed to construct a railway project linking China's Kashgar to Pakistan's Gwadar Port. This latest endeavor is expected to be a crucial key in establishing an economic corridor between the two countries.
Gwadar Port is established and currently being run by a state-owned Chinese firm under a 40-year contract.
The port is strategically located at the western end of Balochistan coast, which sits at the opposite end of the Gulf of Oman. The gulf is regarded as a vial oil tanker route from the Persian Gulf.
Gwadar Port also plays as an important region handling commodities and products from western China and Central Asia to Africa, Middle East and Europe.
According to Gao, the Gwadar-Kashgar railway can be considered as a shortcut for China to the Indian Ocean. The scholar further remarked that this venture can also lead to the establishment of Kashgar-Andijon railway via Kyrgyzstan, which can develop the economic cooperation between Central Asian countries and India.
Moreover, Gao predicted that these railway endeavors could help facilitate partnerships between the three nations--China, Pakistan and India.
Apart from these advantages, the railway-backed economic integration can help China increase its influence in the Middle East, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and in the boarder area of Pakistan and Afghanistan, where Xinjiang-based separatists are believed to have received Islamist extremist training.