China has set its eyes on Pakistan for a railway project that will “decrease reliance on the West” and potentially cost around $58 billion dollars. The railway would run from Western China right into Pakistan’s port of Gwadar.

China has been negotiating with many countries throughout the Middle East and Africa as part of their “Belt and Road” initiative which has strived to connect Chinese interests with the rest of the world while redirecting trade reliance from the West to China.

This specific project is said to potentially change the geopolitics of the world according to a Chinese journal called Railway, Transport, and Economy.

China has used the Belt and Road initiative to develop regions to strengthen their economic benefit to China. There is no set date for completion or funding, but the board of directors for the project is very confident the Chinese government will fund it.