Description
This paper compares two Chinese-associated projects in separate provinces of Pakistan: the Gwadar Port in Balochistan and the Thar coal and energy projects in Sindh, in the south-east of the country. It demonstrates that the trajectory and results of these infrastructural projects depend as much on Chinese actors as on local histories and regional politics. In Balochistan, Chinese investment is understood as an extension of the state and is therefore resisted, causing delays to the project. In Sindh, by contrast, the projects are seen as an alternative to the state and are therefore accepted and welcomed by the political elites. These divergent trajectories show that infrastructural projects are the result of entanglements between Chinese corporations and investment, on the one hand, and local histories and regional politics, on the other. By emphasising that resistance or acceptance of Chinese investment must be understood through grounded analysis, the paper contributes to the theorisation of “Global China” from below and moves away from simplistic notions of “debt-trap diplomacy” and “China as an alternative.”