The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: Strategic Rationales, External Perspectives, and Challenges to Effective Implementation: An SAV Visiting Fellow Working Paper

The South Asian Voices (SAV) Visiting Fellowship brings on a biannual basis rising analysts from India and Pakistan to Washington, DC for a one-month residency at the Stimson Center. During their time in Washington, fellows develop a research project, meet with leading scholars and policymakers, and publish articles in different venues. This unique program exposes the next generation of Indian and Pakistani strategic thinkers to the Washington policy community while strengthening cross-border networks in South Asia.

Hamzah Rifaat and Tridivesh Singh Maini were SAV Visiting Fellows in Winter 2016. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: Strategic Rationales, External Perspectives, and Challenges to Effective Implementation is a product of their fellowship experience. The working paper examines Chinese and Pakistani motivations behind CPEC, surveys U.S. and Indian perspectives on the corridor, and explores insecurity along the proposed route as well as other potential barriers to its effective implementation.

Hamzah Rifaat is an anchor for PTV World, Pakistan’s only English news channel. He is a gold medalist with a Master of Philosophy degree in the discipline of peace and conflict studies from the National Defense University in Islamabad. He holds a diploma in World Affairs and Professional Diplomacy from the Bandaranaike Diplomatic Training Institute in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was a freelance writer and blogger for The Friday Times and received a CRDF scholarship to the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, where he studied nonproliferation and terrorism studies at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies. He was also a Graduate Editorial Assistant for Women’s International Perspective, a global source for women’s perspectives, based in Monterey. He has also represented Pakistan as a member of the CTBTO Youth Initiative 2016. His writings encompass political and internal security issues in Pakistan and he regularly contributes for The Diplomat.

Tridivesh Singh Maini is a New Delhi-based Policy Analyst. He is a Senior Research Associate with the Jindal School of International Affairs, OP Jindal Global University, Sonepat, Haryana. He was also an Asia Society India-Pakistan Regional Young Leaders Initiative (IPRYLI) Fellow (2013-2014) and a Public Policy Scholar with The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, Chennai (November 2013-March 2014). His research interests include Indo-Pak relations, the role of border states in India’s foreign policy and the New Silk Road. Maini is a regular contributor for The Millennium Post (New Delhi), The News (Lahore), The Friday Times (Lahore), The Global Times (Beijing), and The Diplomat. Maini has worked earlier with the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, the Institute of South Asian Studies, Singapore; and The Indian Express, New Delhi. While working with The Indian Express, Maini wrote a weekly column, ‘Printline Pakistan.’ He authored “South Asian Cooperation and the Role of the Punjabs,” and co-authored “Humanity Amidst Insanity: Hope During and After the Indo-Pak Partition” with Tahir Malik and Ali Farooq Malik. Maini is also one of the editors of “Warriors after War: Indian and Pakistani Retired Military Leaders Reflect on Relations between the Two countries, Past Present and Future,” published by Peter Lang (2011).

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