'All-weather friendship': but is Pakistan relying too heavily on China?

China already accounts for 46% of Pakistan's trade deficit - yet few have questioned acceptance of huge loans as part of a new economic alliance

Chen Zhu, a 46-year-old director of a Chinese shipping company in Karachi, Pakistan, was sitting in his car after finishing lunch. He had dispensed with his normal security since it was a public holiday, and his next task for the day was to buy some groceries.

An unknown assailant crossed the road, approached Chen's car and shot him nine times. He was declared dead soon after reaching hospital.

China's Belt and Road Initiative is a huge, $1tn infrastructure project to better connect China - and Chinese goods - with the rest of the world. It is meant to be a 21st-century "silk road", made up of a "belt" of overland corridors (including roads, bridges and railways) and a maritime "road" of shipping lanes.

Related: What is China's Belt and Road Initiative?

Related: Follow the New Silk Road