A bus carrying 30 Chinese engineers to the site of the Dasu dam, a hydroelectric project being built as part of the BRI’s associated US$60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), were injured and nine died when the bus plunged down a high mountain ravine in northern Pakistan. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday afternoon that the bus carrying Chinese workers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province plunged into a ravine after a mechanical failure resulting in leakage of gas that caused the blast. The Chinese embassy initially condemned the attack, expressed its deep condolences to the victims and sympathy for the injured, and said it will do its best with Pakistan to properly deal with the aftermath. The Global Times noticed that after the Pakistani Foreign Ministry issued the statement, an English statement sent by the Chinese embassy to the Global Times did not mention condemnation. The Global Times has learned that the incident is still under further investigation and verification. Before the lethal bus attack, Beijing was playing down the bubbling debt conflict and overall lack of progress. China’s Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong said that the Communist Party of China values the exchange of ideas and cooperation with Pakistani political parties during a recent webinar hosted by the Pakistan-China Institute (PCI). He said “We are ready to work with Pakistan’s political parties to make good use of the CPEC JCM and promote and strengthen exchanges of ideas, policies and people-to-people contacts to create a good political and public environment for the high-quality development of the CPEC.”

(Comment: Earlier this year, the CPEC Authority informed Pakistan’s cabinet that China’s actual investment in 17 completed projects as of 2021 was a mere $13 billion. Another 21 projects worth an estimated $12 billion were still in the implementation process. Another $28 billion worth of projects is on the proverbial drawing board. Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhary, secretary-general of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and a former federal minister for planning, told Asia Times that government apathy is partly to blame for the slow progress. He said “The Western route of the project had planned to be accomplished in the year, but it is still incomplete and may not be commissioned this year. Similarly, the framework agreement of Pakistan railways flagship project ML-1 was signed with Chinese authorities in 2017 and we were expecting its completion by the year 2021-22 but it was delayed inordinately.” Meanwhile, Beijing has refused to reschedule debts due for CPEC-related power projects that require Pakistan to pay for electricity that hasn’t been delivered via so-called take-or-pay contracts despite top Pakistani officials going hat-in-hand to Beijing on at least two occasions.)