Pakistan: dam projects suspended after the death of five Chinese in an attack
The construction of two hydroelectric dams suspended in northern Pakistan this Friday. Chinese companies responsible for the construction site are calling on authorities to step up security, following the death of five Chinese engineers in a suicide attack.
A suicide attack killed six people, including five Chinese engineers in Pakistan, March 26, 2024. © REUTERS / PRIME MINISTER OFFICE
By: Stéphane Lagarde Follow
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From our correspondent in Beijing,
We can imagine the sadness, the fear and probably the anger among the 1,250 Chinese employees at the Diamer-Bhasha sites and especially at Dasu in
Pakistan
. This is in fact not the first time that Chinese engineers and workers working on these two large hydroelectric dams have been victims of attacks or attacks. The convoy of five Chinese nationals killed on Tuesday was targeted as it arrived from Islamabad, on a steep road familiar to Chinese state media.
Security breaches and tens of billions of dollars invested
Everyone here still has in mind the image of this blue bus that fell into the ravine from this same road, on July 14 three years ago. Nine Chinese nationals were killed in the attack and analysts were already talking about security flaws among Chinese companies. The latter are very numerous in Pakistan and constitute as many potential targets, since Beijing began in 2015 the construction of the Sino-Pakistani Economic Corridor (CPEC), intended to connect the Chinese province of Xinjiang to the Arabian Sea.
Given the strategic importance and the tens of billions of dollars invested in this flagship project of the new Chinese Silk Roads initiated by President
Xi Jinping
, Chinese diplomacy is walking on eggshells. As always, the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
strongly condemned the attack
, demanding a rapid investigation to find its perpetrators, asking Pakistan to take effective measures to protect "
the safety and security of Chinese nationals , Chinese institutions and projects in Pakistan
. Beijing is trying to accommodate the sensitivities of its Pakistani ally, while making the security of its nationals a priority. At least 30,000 Pakistani security agents were deployed in 2019 on CPEC construction sites.
Increase in attacks and threat to CPEC
The temporary suspension of construction sites is a way of showing Islamabad that the effort aimed at protecting Chinese interests is not sufficient. Tuesday's suicide attack takes place in a context of an increase in attacks targeting Chinese interests in south-west Pakistan.
Attacks that are not conducive to business, which threaten the Sino-Pakistani corridor project and force Beijing to react. After a period of calm, the pact between China and the power recognized by Beijing of the Taliban in Kabul does not
eliminate the threat
. Knowing that there are multiple potential attackers. Projects financed by China can arouse resentment among some residents who believe they do not benefit sufficiently from the benefits of the projects.
Five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver were killed after a suicide bomber rammed his convoy with his explosives-laden vehicle near the town of Besham in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.https:/ /t.co/CRMrlDosSp
— Stéphane Lagarde (@StephaneLagarde) March 26, 2024
Chinese interests are especially the target of Balochistan separatists who describe China as an “
oppressive country
”. In 2018, it was these same Baloch fighters who led the attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi, in which four people were killed. This new attack finally comes after the attack on a concert hall in Moscow which left 139 dead. All eyes are on the Islamic State in Khorasan, dissident branches of the Taliban which also worry Beijing. The Dasu dam must be delivered in 2025. For the moment, the cranes and excavators are temporarily at a standstill.
Previous attacks targeting Chinese interests in Pakistan
•
November 23, 2018
Two police officers and two civilians are killed in the
attack by gunmen on the Chinese consulate in Karachi
, Pakistan's largest city, claimed by a Baloch separatist group.
•
June 29, 2020
Six people lost their lives during the
attack by armed men on the Karachi Stock Exchange
in which Chinese companies hold 40% of the shares.
•
August 20, 2021
Two people were killed, including a Chinese national ,
by a bomb detonated by a suicide bomber
, as a convoy carrying workers and executives working on the new highway linking the Gwadar port to the Makran expressway passed by in Balochistan.
•
July 14, 2021
13 people were killed including 9 Chinese nationals during the
attack on a bus transporting Chinese engineers
, surveyors and mechanical staff to the construction site of the Dasu dam, in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
•
July 29, 2021
Two Chinese people who worked in a factory were
attacked by two armed men on motorcycles
in the South, in Karachi.
•
April 26, 2022
Three Chinese nationals and their driver were killed by
an explosion targeting staff at the Confucius Institute in Karachi
. The director of the institute is one of the victims.
•
September 29, 2022
A Chinese national was killed in an armed attack at a dental clinic in Karachi.
•
August 13, 2023
A
convoy of Chinese engineers was targeted
in southwest Pakistan in a bomb and gun attack at the entrance to the Gwadar port area.
Read alsoChina-Pakistan: the port of Gwadar, “essential part” of the “new silk roads”
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