China’s $45 billion push into Pakistan is skirting one of the Indian subcontinent’s most dangerous flashpoints. The proposed 4,500-megawatt Diamer Bhasha hydropower plant would eliminate about half of Pakistan’s power shortfall and irrigate millions of acres of parched farmland. While both the U.S. and China have promised to help Pakistan court private investors for the dam, they’ve resisted putting up the cash themselves. China’s reluctance shows that its push to finance infrastructure across Asia hardly amounts to a blank check. It also keeps Beijing’s leaders away from a project in a disputed area that has triggered three wars between Pakistan and India, where tensions over shared waters...
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