KARACHI -- A recent speech by a U.S. diplomat criticizing China's flagship Belt and Road projects in Pakistan spurred an angry response from Beijing and amplified pressure on Pakistan, which sided with China in the row, to provide more transparency.
Alice Wells, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, said the $62 billion projects, known as China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, lack transparency, had incurred unjustifiable cost escalations, and had "debt-trap" implications for Pakistan. She was speaking at the event "A conversation with Ambassador Alice Wells on CPEC" at the Wilson Centre in Washington on Nov. 21.
