Actually we under estimate Pakistan’s potential too much…
You are absolutely right about the Arabs. Remember also the privatization of PTCL for which even today we have been paid nothing in spite of the fact that we gave them this company for practically nothing.
As far as China is concerned we are too much brain washed from our childhood… China like any other country is driven solely by their own interests… what general people don’t know about Pak/China relationship:
We import more than 15 billion dollars goods from China. In addition to this there is an estimated 5 billion dollars of smuggled goods from Khost border. Our markets are flooded with cheap Chinese sub standard electronic goods/toys/ladies fabrics/shoes/and whatever you can imagine from Karachi to Khyber. Remember when Chinese Premiere visited Pakistan, he visited the warehouse of Koochi Khan, the big smuggler of ladies fabric and electronic goods on Raiwind Road…
Pakistan exports 4 billion dollars worth of industrial raw materials to China from cotton yarn to leather for their own value added exports.
No Chinese company has ever invested in manufacturing or exports from Pakistan. Chinese only invest in Pakistan through lucrative concessions given to them for nothing.
For a normal pakistani guy it’s much easier to get US visa compared to Chinese visa. Chinese government is very suspicious about Pakistani people because they are afraid that if they allow Pakistanis to travel to China freely, they may infect the Chinese muslims with religious fanaticism. You can not imagine how difficult it is to get a visa to travel to China for a genuine businessman from Pakistan.
We Pakistanis are just too naive and emotional… and our government does not look after our interests.
As far as return on foreign investments in Pakistan are concerned, if you check the results of these foreign investors in Pakistan, Pakistan is a heaven for these foreign investors. In any case do you believe what China has invested over the years to finance US debt worth trillions of dollars… they will ever see this money again… The investments China made in Pakistan are gold compared to them…!!!
Chinese are very shrewd businessmen and hardly give anything easily.
On top of that chinese comanies are known not to employ local people in local projects, they will bring their own staff except for chaprasis, they also do not invest in local infrastructure.
However, one edge that china has over the other investors in Pakistan, is its international standing, which can come handy in security council.