China-Pakistan Post Covid-19 Economy and Progress on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

Abstract

Coronavirus (Covid-19) is a new infectious disease that began to spread from the capital city of China‘s Hubei province, Wuhan, in December 2019. It affected nearly every country globally including Pakistan. All the affected countries took various measures and tried to slow down the spread of the disease; limiting travel, quarantining or isolating citizens, sealed off the cities and banned large gatherings. Due to the strict lockdown industries and manufacturing units are shut down, interconnected economies are shattered, businesses are disrupted and most of the countries globally faced economic recession. Pakistan‘s already fragile economy also came under crisis while a strong rebound and positive growth have been seen in China‘s economy. The objective of this qualitative post-positivist research is the empirical analysis of Pakistan and China economic situation and the progress on CPEC during the pandemic. This research sets under the concept of the Downs theory of rational choice, i.e., China and Pakistan are more committed and have their self-interests to CPEC, a set of multi-billion-dollar projects. This research concluded that Covid-19 affected the economy of both countries, but China adopted rational measures and its economy recovered soon while Pakistan is still suffering.