Chinese Railway bogies: After Donald Trump froze American aid to Pakistan, China emerged as angel of heaven for the terrorist nation. The question is, can a country like China be gracious? Or is Pakistan just a dump yard for cheap and junk made-in-China products? Latest reports give a hint about it.
Faulty Chinese Railway bogies in Pakistan
According to a report by The Express Tribune, Chinese have taken full advantage of Pakistan’s dilapidated economy. The newspaper reported that Pakistan imported non-functional Chinese railway bogies worth nearly $150 million from China. Even basic stuff like installation of pressure pipes was not standardised. Chinese Railway bogies contain 20-inch pressure pipes, which inhibits Pakistani train brakes from working properly.
Pakistan sent 88 officers to China to ensure that Chinese Railway bogies are accustomed to Pakistan’s demand. Despite taking $100 per day, these officers did not fulfil their duties. Now, the Sharif government is spending its own money from flood-hit treasury to fit in two and two-and-half inch pipes.
The news comes off as astonishing for the pro-China faction in the Pakistani establishment. Though they know that China keeps doing such treachery to its friends, they support China because their coffers are filled by Beijing. However, they would not have imagined that the Chinese would do that with Pakistani Railways, lifeline of whatever little is left of the flood-hit country. Even the Pakistani Railway itself is not in a good shape.
Also read: Welcome to Pakistan – The World’s largest dumping yard
Pak Railways in tatters
Just Google “Pakistan Railways”. No, no, you do not need to go to Google News sections. Just Google it. On the very first page of the search result, you will find news about Pakistani Railways running low on fuel reserves. At its current fuel capacity, the largest civil employer of military real estate can only run for 3 days. This has been the state of affairs for at least a decade.
A decade ago, even their engines were not working properly. This was an additional problem to the fuel shortage. Time and again, these problems keep shaking Pakistan Railways. However, they also manage to find a temporary solution by borrowing money from one source or another. To put it simply, Pakistan Railways is running on borrowed time and borrowed money.
China’s record of cheating Pakistan
Ideally, in those circumstances, a wealthy friend comes to help. Not China though. However, it is not China to blame. Blame lies with the Pakistani government.
For the last 20 years, Pakistan has been buying made-in-China arms. Between 2000 and 2014, Pakistan emerged as the biggest buyer of Chinese arms. 42 per cent of China’s arms exports basket was occupied by Pakistan. After Trump started to pull his hands from Pakistan, the number increased further.
The space vacated by the US was quickly occupied by China. Between 2017 and 2021, 47 per cent of all Chinese arms exports went to Pakistan. How much is it? Well, for Pakistan, 72 per cent of their demands were fulfilled by Beijing. Even key war components like fighter aircraft, warships, submarines and missiles are being imported from cheap factory lines of China.
Now, you may ask what’s the problem? Apart from significant geopolitical consequences, the problem is bigger for Pakistan. What China has been doing is that they have supplied low-grade defence equipment to Pakistan. In 2020, Pakistan had to turn to Turkey because the Chinese supplied F22P frigates for Pak Navy with technical glitches.
Similarly, out of 9 LY-80 Long Range Air Defence systems, 3 turned out to be non-functional. Last year, even artillery guns and main battle tanks made-in-China turned out to be ineffective for Pakistan. They even bought J-10c from China on the promise that it is a good counter to India’s Rafale, only to be disappointed with the final result.
Also read: Pakistani Army stole whatever little money Pakistan had in its treasury
There is no reason for Pak to trust China
Strengthening the military is the foremost goal of Pakistan. So much so, millions in Pakistan die of hunger and still they have the gall to boast about nuclear arsenal. Despite that, China supplied defective arms to Pakistan. I mean, this should speak volumes about Chinese commitment to Pakistan. One would have to be wilfully ignorant or recipient of Chinese bribery or both to trust China for Pakistan Railways.
China-Pakistan bonhomie is not a big news. Rather, right from the beginning, the media should have focussed on the quality of Chinese friendship with Pakistan. Chinese are not known for their quality, so why should their institutional interaction be?
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