China’s decision to step back from directly financing Pakistan’s Main Line-1 (ML-1) railway project marks a quiet but important shift in how large infrastructure projects are being funded in South Asia. For years, ML-1 was presented as the flagship transport project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), symbolizing deep strategic and economic ties between Beijing and Islamabad. Today, that picture looks very different. With China no longer willing to act as th