Military cooperation between Pakistan and China will maintain regional peace: PLA

Statement by military spokesperson in Beijing says Islamabad is an all weather friend to the Chinese

The Peoples Liberation Army has said that the close ties between the armed forces of Pakistan and China will help maintain regional peace and global stability, Hindustan Times reported.

The statement from the Chinese military on Thursday also added that the military cooperation was evidence of 'an all-weather partnership' between the two countries.

China has the largest military in the world, at 2.3 million strong, and Pakistan is the largest consumer of Chinese military hardware. According to recent report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the country has bought 41 per cent of the weapons exported by China.

Defense analysts are of the opinion that Pakistan is establishing itself as the main buyer of Chinese weapons as the two countries improve their bilateral ties even further, according to the Indian publication.



“China and Pakistan share all-weather partnership. We have maintained a high-level of defence exchange and cooperation,” Chinese military spokesperson, Col Ren Guoqiang, told a media briefing in Beijing.

“At the same time, I am very confident that military cooperation will help facilitate our state-to-state relationship and also in maintaining regional peace and international stability,” he said.

Earlier, it was reported that China had sold a 'high performing' tracking system for the missile programme of Pakistan in an unprecedented deal which reportedly speeds up the development of multi-warhead missiles by Islamabad.



Researchers told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post that Pakistan had bought a highly sophisticated, large-scale optical tracking and measurement system from China and deployed it “at a firing range” for use in testing and developing its new missiles.

China was the first country to export such sensitive equipment to Pakistan, the report said. Chinese authorities declassified information about the sale of the tracking system only recently.



Pakistan has focused its efforts on developing multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs), a type of missile-carrying several nuclear warheads that can be directed towards different targets, the report said.

Unlike the US, which accounts for one-third of exports and supplies at least 100 countries, China delivered major arms to 44 countries, mostly in Asia and Africa.

More than 60 per cent of China’s exports went to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar and another 22 per cent went to Africa, the study by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute outlined.

This article originally appeared in Hindustan Times