China has signalled that it will back Pakistan on its biggest dam project in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as visiting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held special talks on the Diamer Bhasha dam a day before China’s major Belt and Road Forum summit meeting.
China’s influential National Energy Administration (NEA) held talks with Sharif and hosted a “Bhasha Project Conference” on Saturday, the official Associated Press of Pakistan reported (APP).
Pakistan is seeking China’s investment for the dam in Gilgit Baltistan in PoK, which is an integral part of the Indian territory. India has opposed Chinese investments in PoK under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a key route of President Xi Jinping’s One Belt, One Road initiative.
STUDIES ON BHASHA DAM PRESENTED
At the conference, power companies in China presented studies on the Bhasha dam. An MoU for a roadmap on power projects was signed by China’s Ambassador in Pakistan Sun Weidong and Power Secretary Naseem Khokhar.
China’s NEA hosting a special conference on the project underlines Beijing is willing to support it, which could further complicate ties with India.
That segments of the CPEC pass through PoK has irked India, which has not announced its participation at Sunday’s Belt and Road Forum, which will be attended by 28 heads of state and government.
The Indian Embassy in Beijing said it “had nothing to offer” on whether Embassy officials would be present. On Friday, the U.S. announced a high-level delegation, as did South Korea, joining Russia and Japan besides Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Sharif’s talks on the PoK dam provided a reminder of India’s unease at the OBOR plan. The APP reported Sharif addressed the Bhasha project conference accompanied by the chief ministers of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
SHARIF THANKS NEA FOR BHASHA DAM SESSION
Sharif “thanked the NEA for hosting an extremely important and strategic session for Bhasha Dam, a project of critical importance for the future of Pakistan”, the APP reported.
The NEA is taking forward many of the USD33 billion energy projects under the USD46 billion CPEC. Pakistan’s energy crisis has become a major obstacle for Sharif and China has indicated it will back his embattled government through a slew of energy investments.
Sharif said under the CPEC, a 300-MW solar project and two wind projects had started production, as also the Sahiwal coal fired power project.
He said the Bhasha dam construction was “the single most important initiative” under the North Indus Cascade project in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Pakistani media reported Chinese companies had “conducted survey and studies on the North Indus Cascade including the sites of Pattan, Thacoat, Bunji, Dasau and Diamer” in February 2017.
