CPEC: Wells reiterates criticism of China

Alice Wells, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia at the US Department of State, Wednesday reiterated her country's position on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and hoped that China would renegotiate the "predatory, unsustainable and unfair" lending and create a "fair and transparent" deal for the people of Pakistan.

Ambassador Wells, who is retiring later this month, addressed the regional media including Pakistan, India and Afghanistan via a video link through which she outlined the policies of the US government towards the region.

On the CPEC, she said: "As is the case with the CPEC or any other development project, we, the United States support investment within international standards and that upholds environmental and labour standards...that are sustainable and benefit people of the region."

Wells added that she enumerated the US government's concerns "over the lack of transparency involved in the projects, over the unfair rates of profits guaranteed to the Chinese organizations to the distortion that is caused to Pakistan's economy, including the massive imbalance in trade between Pakistan and China."

She added that in the prevailing crisis situation when the world economy is facing serious challenges due to the situation created by Covid-19 pandemic it was incumbent upon China to take steps to alleviate the burden of the "predatory, unsustainable and unfair" lending, which was going to cost Pakistan.

However, both Pakistan and China, had rejected the US concerns when Ambassador Wells first publicly voiced the "concerns" of the US government in November last year.

Wells talked about the Trump administration's South Asia Strategy, saying that the policy would be guided by conditions on the ground that "Pakistan must take decisive actions against militant groups and that India is an important partner in Afghanistan's development".

She stated that the strategy was clear that Pakistan should take action against terrorist groups, particularly those that were involved in violence in Afghanistan and also Hafiz Saeed and his group.

She pointed out that after over a year of direct talks, the US and the Taliban signed the peace agreement on February 29, 2020 in Qatar in which the Taliban committed that Afghanistan would never be a base for international terrorism.

Wells stated that the US was upholding its end by bringing its troops back to home and continues to closely watch the Taliban's actions.

"A response will be necessary to defend the Afghan security forces," she said, adding that the level of increase in violence was "unacceptable" and it was the responsibility of the Taliban to significantly reduce violence.

The top US diplomat stated the US also welcomed the agreement between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, adding, "We look forward to the rapid implementation of the agreement and immediate steps to enter the intra-Afghan negotiations". She said that peace and stability in Afghanistan, as many Pakistani leaders had been saying, was in Pakistan's interest, adding that recently US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad held productive meetings with Pakistani leadership on Pakistan's continued support to the Afghan peace process.

Wells said that the US was pushing hard all the sides in Afghanistan to create an environment for reduction of violence, release of the prisoners and start of the intra-Afghan negotiations.

She expressed the hope that women should be heard in the peace process, adding that women had a very critical role to play.

Responding to a question about India's role in the Afghan peace process Wells said that India was "very critical" player in Afghanistan with a huge investment in development of the country.

However, she added that it was up to India how to engage itself in the peace process as to whether it wanted to talk directly with the Taliban.

At a time when the US is in talks with the Taliban to be part of governing structure, she added that it would be good for the future relationship between India and Afghanistan.

To another query about Nepal-China dispute, Wells said that Nepal is a sovereign country and "won't take dictation from China". She hoped that the leaders of Nepal stand up for the people of Nepal.