BEIJING:

Prime Minister Imran Khan, trying to reduce the country’s reliance on China for development financing, has used the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing to solicit funds from different countries.

“I take this opportunity to invite all of you to avail of our liberal foreign investment regime and participate in our economy, in particular infrastructure, railways, dams, IT and manufacturing,” Khan said in his speech at the forum on Friday.

This is a significant move because the leaders of China and Pakistan call each other “iron brothers”, and sometimes describe their friendship using hyperboles like “higher than the Himalayas and deeper than the ocean”. But in recent months some creases have emerged on the surface of their relationship.

Pakistan obtained a $6 billion loan from

as China took months to respond to Islamabad’s call for funds to overcome a financial crisis soon after Khan took over as PM.

In Beijing, Khan met International Monetary Fund managing director

on the sidelines of a forum meeting. Pakistan is trying to persuade the IMF to grant it a bailout package but the world body is worried about the high indebtedness of Pakistan caused by the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

India is not attending the forum because a portion of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and hurts national sovereignty. Other issues flagged by India include the opacity of BRI projects and Chinese financing pushing poor countries towards debt traps.

Analysts believe that non-participation would not hurt India in economic terms. “The dire predictions made a couple of years ago about India’s isolation and a sharp deterioration in Sino-Indian relations have turned out to be wrong. Nor is there any evidence of India losing out on economic opportunities,” Mohan Malik, professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in the US, told TOI.

Speaking at the forum, Chinese President

indicated he was ready to revamp several aspects of the BRI to address widespread criticism about the lack of transparency, environmental risks and China’s reluctance to involve foreign companies in infrastructure projects.

“Everything should be done in a transparent way, and we should have zero tolerance for corruption,” Xi said. His government will now offer a “debt-sustainability framework” to encourage compliance with international standards in infrastructure contracting.