CPEC and China’s Strategic Web: Power, Connectivity, and Control in Pakistan and Beyond
Jagannath Panda, John S. Van Oudenaren, Jiayi Zhou, Scott N. Romaniuk, Niklas Swanström, Anne Weiler, Sevil Khikmatova, Tristan Eng, Sriparna Pathak, Ajay Darshan Behera, Seong Hyeon Choi, Ratish Mehta, Brendon J. Cannon and Aadil Brar
About this Stockholm Paper: From Silk Cage to Silk Noose-I
This Stockholm Paper, CPEC and China’s Strategic Web: Power, Connectivity, and Control in Pakistan and Beyond, marks the first publication under the Stockholm Center for South Asian and Indo-Pacific Affairs (SCSA-IPA) flagship research project, The Silk Noose: China’s Power Architecture in South Asia and the Indian Ocean Region. The study examines how the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship project of China’s BRI, has evolved beyond a connectivity and infrastructure initiative into a multidimensional instrument of strategic influence, political leverage, and regional power projection.
At the center of China’s South Asia strategy, Pakistan occupies a unique position as Beijing’s most trusted strategic partner and the principal gateway linking western China to the Arabian Sea. Through CPEC, China has invested heavily in transport networks, energy projects, industrial zones, digital infrastructure, and the development of Gwadar Port. While these projects have contributed to Pakistan’s infrastructure modernization, they have also generated important debates regarding economic dependency, political influence, security cooperation, and long-term strategic control. This Stockholm Paper brings together leading experts, established and emerging scholars from across Europe, North America, and Asia to assess CPEC from multiple perspectives.
The first section situates Pakistan and South Asia within China’s broader strategic vision, examining how Beijing’s global initiatives, diplomatic outreach, and multilateral engagement have reinforced Pakistan’s importance in China’s regional and global ambitions. The second section investigates the realities of CPEC on the ground, exploring issues ranging from economic performance and Special Economic Zones to digital statecraft, social impacts, and growing defence-industrial integration between China and Pakistan. The final section analyses the regional expansion of CPEC, including its extension into Afghanistan and the strategic significance of Gwadar in China’s evolving Indian Ocean strategy.
The central argument running throughout this volume is that CPEC should no longer be viewed solely as an economic corridor. Rather, it represents a broader strategic architecture through which China seeks to shape regional connectivity, deepen political influence, expand security partnerships, and advance its vision of regional order. As global competition intensifies and South Asia assumes greater geopolitical significance, understanding CPEC becomes essential for assessing the future trajectory of China’s engagement in the region. By examining both the promises and limitations of CPEC, this Stockholm Paper seeks to contribute to policy debates on connectivity, sovereignty, strategic dependency, and regional security. Overall, it argues that Pakistan serves not only as the centerpiece of China’s South Asia policy but also as the primary testing ground for Beijing’s larger ambition to translate connectivity into influence and infrastructure into power.
