Chinese investment in Eurasia is not always smooth

IF ANYWHERE ALONG the belt and road should be benefiting from Chinese largesse, it is Pakistan. The country counts as China’s only real ally, as a partner on China’s vulnerable western flank and a balancer against India. China gave Pakistani scientists the know-how and materials to build a nuclear bomb. A joint-venture slogan factory had long churned out declarations of a friendship “higher than the Himalayas”. So, although financing for BRI projects everywhere has slowed over the past year (see chart), Pakistan seems like a place where it should naturally have taken hold.

Yet, in Karachi’s expo centre, staff from 120 Chinese firms are having little success as they stand, brochures and electronic translation devices in hand, touting everything from hoses to pumps to window frames. Alex Hou, from a firm in Zhejiang province that sells PVC film to factories, says Pakistani officials could have done a lot more to promote the event. More broadly, Pakistan is a lesson in how China can fumble the politics of its prime foreign policy.