Behind the "Game Changer" Spectacle: The Consequences of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Gwadar Port Development on Gwadar's Fishermen and Fishing Industry

Abstract

Existing research has predominantly focused on the macroeconomic and macro-political aspects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), leaving its consequences for micro-level development and the local political economy in Pakistan understudied. Scholars have stressed the need to explore how Chinese investments under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) intersect with recipient countries' local political economies. Therefore, this paper examines the micro-level consequences of CPEC – a flagship project of BRI – through a case study of the Gwadar Port development in Pakistan. Drawing from 20 semi-structured interviews with local fishermen and community leaders affected by the Gwadar port's development, our findings reveal that despite being heralded as a "Game-Changer" for Pakistan, the Chinese investments in Gwadar under CPEC lead to exclusion, livelihood loss, and dispossession, disproportionately affecting Gwadar's sizable fisherman and local industry. Beneath CPEC's symbolic veneer created by the government, we identify exclusionary consequences, jeopardizing local fishermen's livelihoods and leaving them in a state of vulnerability and uncertainty. This incongruity between CPEC's ambitious vision and the challenging local realities underscores an 'economy of appearances,' whereby narratives and symbols obscure a project's actual implications. Our research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of CPEC's nuanced effects for sustainable and inclusive policies for development.