Enhancing strategic ties with China

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Beijing from February 3-6, prompted by his personal desire to witness the Winter Olympics hosted by the People’s Republic of China and boycotted by Washington and most of its Western allies, is occurring at a time when Pak-China bilateral relations, the regional security situation, and global security landscape is undergoing a rapid transformation.

Due to several terrorist incidents within Pakistan aimed at subverting China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), New Delhi’s unremitting hostility and aggressive posture towards Pakistan, the India-China standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and clouds of war hovering over Europe due to Moscow’s escalating tensions with Ukraine, have necessitated consultations between Islamabad and Beijing at the summit level.

Even though there is a regular consultation between the two sides, leadership interaction has not taken place since October 2019, when PM Imran Khan visited Beijing.

This visit offers PM Imran Khan the opportunity not only to assess the state of bilateral relations, but also to review regional and global developments, as they would impinge on their bilateral ties. In his interactions with Chinese media, PM Imran Khan highlighted his desire to reinforce bilateral strategic ties and expressed his keenness to seek China’s help to further develop Islamabad’s soft power in the field of winter sports and tourism.

To express solidarity with Beijing on the issue of Uighurs Muslims in Xinjiang and their struggle for autonomy, PM Imran Khan categorically sided with Beijing by dismissing the Western concerns as a case of “selective bias” against China. He pointed out the deafening silence that the Western democracies have maintained over Modi’s state-sponsored brutal oppression of the Kashmiri Muslims in the occupied Valley.

He renewed his offer of a dialogue to New Delhi for the sake of enduring peace in South Asia. The Prime Minister stated that “It is our common vision that enduring peace in South Asia is contingent on maintaining a strategic balance in the region,” and “all outstanding issues like border questions and the Kashmir dispute should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy and as per norms of international law.”

Paying a glowing tribute to China as a reliable and time-tested friend of Pakistan who had stood by Pakistan through thick and thin, Prime Minister Imran Khan emphasised the need to develop a broad-based relationship in which trade, investment, and mutual gains through border trade would play a pivotal role. He singled out phase two of the CPEC as crucially linked to job creation, development of Pakistan’s agriculture and setting up of special economic zones in Balochistan and KP to promote Pakistan’s trade potential.

In this regard, Beijing has consistently expressed its concerns to Pakistan regarding the escalating terrorist activity that has cast a heavy shadow over the safety and security of over 20,000 Chinese workers involved in different CPEC projects. Pakistan would do well to reassure Beijing that it will do its utmost to ensure the safety of Chinese workers.

It is a well-known fact that India has dedicated a large sum of money to destabilise the CPEC route passing through the Gilgit and Baltistan area moving down south.

To assuage Chinese concerns, Pakistan has to augment not only its physical security, but deepen its intelligence cooperation with China to deal with enemies of CPEC. Another Chinese concern relating to CPEC is the slow pace of development of the joint projects due to bureaucratic hurdles, mainly from the Pakistani side. Financial constraints notwithstanding, the bulk of the bureaucracy dealing with CPEC in Pakistan has a nonchalant attitude towards it and that includes several sitting ministers of the PTI government. There is no real political ownership of this flagship project, apart from the Pakistan army’s side.

All these aspects of the CPEC are most likely to come up for discussion during Prime Minister’s upcoming visit to China. Another issue that is more likely to feature prominently in the summit level talks between Islamabad and Beijing is the fast-changing military balance between Islamabad and New Delhi in the latter’s favour.

India, as part of its conventional modernisation, has emerged as the top importer of convention arms. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has ranked it as number 2 amongst the top 10 arms importing countries. New Delhi has deployed S-400 Air Defence System in Punjab and other places as a counter measure against Pakistani missiles.

These security concerns on the Pakistani side have to be addressed by China if it does not want the conventional asymmetries between India and Pakistan to become too large, tempting New Delhi to think that it can wage a war against Pakistan with impunity.

The Indian military has often stated its two-front war scenario against both China and Pakistan and as strategic partners both have be fully prepared for it, should this dire war mongering come to pass.

One salient element of the Pak-China strategic partnership is the “quiet manner” in which both countries conduct, coordinate, and implement their defence collaboration. That is one reason why there is no formal defence treaty between the two, but it is quite evident to their common enemies, like India and the United States, that when push comes to shove, Pakistan and China would come to each other’s rescue.

Prime Minister Imran Khan would do well to have candid and in-depth discussions with his Chinese counterpart to make sure that his government is as committed as any in the past to enhance strategic ties with China.

The writer is a political scientist and defence analyst.