Summary

Rising powers are increasingly vying to establish the new shipping routes which will define global trade over the next century. The largest and highest-profile of these efforts, by a wide margin, is China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), in which Pakistan plays a significant role via the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Gwadar port on the Arabian sea is the lynchpin of CPEC, and Islamabad and Beijing are hoping to transform this small fishing community into a major transit hub for regional energy and trade flows. But in the process, they will have to overcome security and logistical challenges, along with competition from potential competitors in the neighborhood such as Iran’s Chabahar Port.