China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC; ; ) is a 3,000 km Chinese infrastructure network project currently under construction in Pakistan. This sea-and-land-based corridor aims to secure and shorten the route for China's energy imports from the Middle East, avoiding the existing path through the Straits of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia, which could be blockaded in case of war, thereby threatening China's energy-dependent economy. Developing a deep-water port at Gwadar in the Arabian Sea and establishing a robust road and rail network from this port to the Xinjiang region in western China would serve as a shortcut, enhancing trade between Europe and China. In Pakistan, the project aims to address electricity shortages, develop infrastructure, and modernize transportation networks, while also transitioning the economy from an agriculture-based structure to an industrial one.
CPEC is seen as the main plank of China's Belt and Road Initiative, and as of early 2024, is the BRI's most developed land corridor. CPEC's potential impact on Pakistan has been compared to that of the Marshall Plan, undertaken by the United States in post-war Europe.
Following the proposal by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in 2013, the operationalization of CPEC is expected to reduce the existing 12,000 km journey for oil transportation to China to 2,395 km. This is estimated to save China $2 billion per year. China had already acquired control of Gwadar Port on 16 May 2013. Originally valued at $46 billion, the value of CPEC projects was $62 billion as of 2020. By 2022, Chinese investment in Pakistan had risen to $65 billion. China refers to this project as the revival of the Silk Road. CPEC envisages rapidly upgrading Pakistan's infrastructure and thereby strengthening its economy by constructing modern transportation networks, numerous energy projects, and special economic zones.
The potential industries being set up in the CPEC special economic zones include food processing, cooking oil, ceramics, gems and jewelry, marble, minerals, agriculture machinery, iron and steel, motorbike assembling, electrical appliances, and automobiles. The project has come under plentiful criticism by the 2020s due to the myriad challenges and economic costs it encounters and its general underdelivery.
History Background Plans for a corridor stretching from the Chinese border to Pakistan's deepwater ports on the Arabian Sea date back to the 1950s and motivated the construction of the Karakoram Highway beginning in 1959. Chinese interest in Pakistan's deep-water harbor at Gwadar was rekindled in 2002, leading to construction at Gwadar port, which was completed in 2006. Expansion of Gwadar Port then ceased due to political instability in Pakistan following the fall of General Pervez Musharraf and the subsequent conflict between the Pakistani state and Taliban militants.
Since the early 1990s, the IMF has provided more than a dozen bailouts to Pakistan to save its dwindling economy, which has struggled for 22 of the past 30 years to meet the austerity measures demanded by the IMF. Nadeem-ul-Haque, a former IMF official and former deputy chairman of the Pakistani government's Planning Commission, wrote, "The pattern is always the same. With the Fund's blessing, the government goes on a shopping spree, taking out costly loans for expensive projects, thus building up even more debt and adding new inefficiencies. After a few years, another crisis ensues, and it is met by another IMF program." The Pakistani establishment views Chinese loans as an alternative to IMF loans.
In 2013, then Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang decided to further enhance mutual connectivity. A memorandum of understanding on cooperation for a long-term plan for the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor was signed by Xu Shao Shi and Shahid Amjad Chaudhry.
In February 2014, Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain visited China to discuss plans for an economic corridor in Pakistan. Two months later, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met with Premier Li Keqiang in China to discuss further plans, resulting in the full scope of the project being devised under Sharif's tenure. In November 2014, the Chinese government announced its intention to finance Chinese companies as part of its $45.6 billion energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan as part of CPEC.
Although China and Pakistan signed the official MoUs in 2015, the first details of the long-term plan under CPEC were publicly disclosed in 2017 when a Pakistani media outlet revealed access to the original documents.
In May 2025, during a trilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced the extension of CPEC into Afghanistan to enhance trilateral cooperation and economic connectivity.
In July 2025, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed that ensuring the safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan remains a top government priority, calling it vital for sustaining Chinese investment and economic cooperation under CPEC. Chairing a high-level meeting, Sharif emphasized enhancing security infrastructure, particularly through Safe City projects. However, critics argue that the government is prioritizing the protection of foreign personnel over addressing the grievances of local communities adversely affected by CPEC projects, including displacement, environmental degradation, and lack of local employment.
In September 2025, China withheld support for the Main Line-1 (ML-1) railway upgrade, a flagship CPEC project, during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's visit to Beijing. Instead, agreements worth about US$8.5 billion were signed in sectors including agriculture, electric vehicles, solar energy, health, and steel. Analysts note the move comes amid shifting regional dynamics, including Islamabad's engagement with Washington and broader geopolitical realignments in Asia.
Announcement of CPEC
General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping described his "fate-changing visit" to Pakistan for signing the CPEC agreement by saying, "I feel as if I am going to visit the home of my brother," and claimed that the friendship between the two nations was "higher than mountains, deeper than oceans, and sweeter than honey." China frequently uses terms like "iron brothers" and "all-weather friends" to describe its relationship with Pakistan. On 20 April 2015, Pakistan and China signed an agreement to commence work on the $46 billion project, which is roughly 20% of Pakistan's annual GDP, with approximately $28 billion worth of fast-tracked "Early Harvest" projects to be developed by the end of 2018.
Under CPEC, a vast network of highways and railways will be built across Pakistan. The government estimates that inefficiencies stemming from Pakistan's largely dilapidated transportation network cause a loss of 3.55% of the country's annual GDP. Modern transportation networks built under CPEC will link seaports in Gwadar and Karachi with northern Pakistan, as well as points further north in western China and Central Asia. A 1,100-kilometre-long motorway will be built between the cities of Karachi and Lahore, while the Karakoram Highway from Hasan Abdal to the Chinese border will be completely reconstructed and overhauled. The currently stalled Karachi–Peshawar main railway line will also be upgraded to allow for train travel at up to 160 km per hour by December 2019. Pakistan's railway network will also be extended to eventually connect to China's Southern Xinjiang Railway in Kashgar. The estimated $11 billion required to modernize transportation networks will be financed by subsidized concessionary loans.
Over $33 billion worth of energy infrastructure is set to be constructed by private consortia to help alleviate Pakistan's chronic energy shortages, which regularly exceed 4,500 MW, and have reduced Pakistan's annual GDP by an estimated 2–2.5%. By the end of 2018, over 10,400 MW of generating capacity is expected to be brought online, with the majority developed as part of CPEC's fast-tracked "Early Harvest" projects. A network of pipelines for transporting liquefied natural gas and oil will also be laid, including a $2.5 billion pipeline between Gwadar and Nawabshah to eventually transport gas from Iran. Electricity from these projects will primarily be generated from fossil fuels, though hydroelectric and wind-power projects are also included, as well as the construction of one of the world's largest solar farms.
Should the initial $46 billion worth of projects be implemented, their value would be roughly equivalent to all foreign direct investment in Pakistan since 1970, and would represent 17% of Pakistan's 2015 gross domestic product. CPEC is seen as a central component of China's Belt and Road Initiative. At the start of the project, Pakistan assigned about 10,000 troops to protect Chinese investments, a number that increased to 15,000 active troops by 2016.
Subsequent developments On 12 August 2015, in the city of Karamay, China and Pakistan signed 20 additional agreements worth $1.6 billion to further expand the scale and scope of CPEC. Details of the plan remain opaque, but it is reported to mainly focus on increasing energy generation capacity. As part of the agreement, Pakistan and China have also agreed to cooperate in the field of space research.
In September and October 2015, the United Kingdom announced two separate grants to Pakistan for the construction of roadways complementary to CPEC. In November 2015, China incorporated CPEC into its 13th Five-Year Development Plan, and in December 2015, China and Pakistan agreed on an additional $1.5 billion investment to establish an information and technology park as part of CPEC. On 8 April 2016, during a visit by Xinjiang Communist Party Chief Zhang Chunxian, companies from Xinjiang signed $2 billion in additional agreements with their Pakistani counterparts, covering infrastructure, solar power, and logistics.
The first convoy from China arrived in Gwadar on 13 November 2016, marking the formal commencement of CPEC operations. On 2 December 2016, the first cargo train departed from Yunnan, launching the direct rail and sea freight service between China and Pakistan. The train, loaded with 500 tonnes of commodities, left Kunming for the port city of Guangzhou, where the cargo was transferred to ships for transport to Karachi, thereby opening the new route. The new rail and sea freight service is expected to reduce logistics costs, including transportation, by 50 percent.
In November 2016, China announced an additional $8.5 billion investment in Pakistan, with $4.5 billion allocated to upgrading Pakistan's main railway line from Karachi to Peshawar, including improvements to tracks, speed, and signaling, and $4 billion directed towards an LNG terminal and transmission lines to alleviate energy shortages. In February 2017, the Egyptian Ambassador to Pakistan expressed interest in CPEC cooperation. In January 2017, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stated that he had received assurances from Chinese investment companies of up to $20 billion in investments for various projects. In March 2017, an agreement was signed for these projects, which include a $1.5 billion oil refinery, $2 billion in irrigation projects, a $2 billion motorway between Chitral and DI Khan, and $7 billion in hydroelectric projects.
As of September 2017, over $14 billion worth of projects were under construction. In March 2018, Pakistan announced that once the ongoing energy projects were completed, future CPEC energy initiatives would focus on hydropower.