The China connection

China has interest in how Pakistan handles extremism because of linkage of extremist groups in Pakistan and Xinjiang.

The Sharif government has, from the outset, paid close attention to our ties with China. The relationship we have with our powerful neighbour to the north has always been good and stretches back to the foundation of the state. China has supported us in a variety of ways over the years, from the construction of the Karakoram Highway started in 1959 to the completion of the port of Gwadar in the early years of the 21^st Century. There is defence cooperation with the joint development of advanced weapons systems and in the last year, the proposal that there be a trade corridor that will open up economic opportunities in the northeast of our country. Chinese Defence Minister General Chang Wanquan has been visiting in the last week and met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday, February 28. China and Pakistan share a mutual concern — terrorism and internal instability. The Chinese have a particular interest in how Pakistan handles its internal problems of extremism and terrorism because of the links that groups based in Pakistan have with other extremist groups in Xinjiang province, long an area of unrest.



A survey conducted by the respected Pew Research Centre in 2013 found that Pakistanis in general have a favourable view of China and the maintenance of close relations with China is a central tenet of Pakistan’s foreign policy. Given the hostility felt towards America and the fact that Nato is dominated by the Americans, Pakistan sees China as a regional counterweight to Nato and the US in general. With the Afghan conflict about to enter a new phase at the end of 2014 and the likely withdrawal of US and other foreign troops by early 2015, China will be viewing with considerable concern the prospect of ‘leakage’ of conflict into its own territories. How Pakistan addresses its internal difficulties is thus of keen interest to the Chinese, with the expectation that their economic partner will address the problems of militancy as enthusiastically as it has addressed the expansion of bilateral trade. We await developments with considerable interest as, no doubt, do the Chinese.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2014.

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