China and Pakistan are getting closer and closer every day.They share technology with each other,Participate regularly in military Exercises and are working on producing various Defence Equipment’s.They both are rivals of India and have fought wars with it.Pakistan is also utilizing China to dominate India.
Growing Ties between these two Countries is a Major Concern for India.
But do you know Both these Countries have long History of Relationships..
BACKGROUND… CHINA and Pakistan.
From 221 BC to 1912 china has seen Qin to Qing dynasties till Kuomintang took it over
China is a Kuomintang national party ruled state till 1949. Taking down the last Qing dynasty. In October of 1949 Mao Zedong with his red army took down Kuomintang government after that Kuomintang was confined to Taiwan.
Meanwhile a huge Subcontinent was made into 2 parts . One India and the other one is Islamic state of Pakistan in 1947. Both these nations maintained hostility since their birth . Then. USA was not in favor of communist China. It was a cold war between capitalism and communism. Both trying to expand their cover on the globe .
Start of the relations
On May 21 , 1951 Pakistan declared the recognition of communist state of China . The 1955 Bandung conference in Indonesia bought 29 Asian and African countries together covering 1/4 of the man power of this planet with roughly. 1.5 billion people. There are many countries that merged relationship between them among them lie Pakistan China. The Bandung was a theoretical hit but also a practical flop show. Pakistan , Iran , japan , turkey drifted towards west and China, Vietnam became communist states . Between 1957 and the early 60’s the drift was huge . West vs east meant political issues with China in UN assembly.
1964 February was a milestone for their relationship and Zhou Enlai visited Pakistan .
Xi-jinping’s 50 years of relationship between China and Pakistan
When I was young, I heard many touching stories about Pakistan and the friendship between our two countries. To name just a few, I learned that the Pakistani people were working hard to build their beautiful country, and that Pakistan opened an air corridor for China to reach out to the world and supported China in restoring its lawful seat in the United Nations. The stories have left me with a deep impression. I look forward to my upcoming state visit to Pakistan.
— Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China before his 2015 visit to Pakistan .
Since 1957 many drastic changes took place. The major of them are the drift of Muslim countries towards the west and East . Iraq , Syria, Somalia, Angola and Algeria drifted towards U.S.S.R. while Iran , Pakistan shifted towards NATO .
Until 1962 the relationship between China and Pakistan was more like 2 neighbors sharing culture and economical interests. 1962 was the milestone for their interests i.e the war between India and China .
Mean while 1950s decade had seen some ideological and political confrontation. Between China and Pakistan , there were WEST VS EAST issues. USA was the initiator in the west-Pakistan relations. In 1957, P.M Suhrawardy declared Communism as a global threat on his visit to U.S.A. This deteriorated the conditions between Eastern block and Pakistan .
ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS MY FRIEND…
TRUTH ABOUT 1962 …..
NEHRU LOST INDIA’S GREATEST MOMENT TO FOOLISHNESS ?
In 1950s Chinese claimed many areas of Kashmir and north eastern parts of Pakistan .There were few skirmishes across their international borders. In September 1959 Chinese an Pakistani forces had a crossfire on the international border near HUNZA border area . Following the events general General Ayub khan got cautious of the Chinese activity in the north eastern parts of Pakistan and the border near xijiang.Ayub khan was shown was shown the parts of Kashmir being claimed as Chinese. In 1961 Pakistan proposed a resolution in UN assembly against Chinese border issues prompting strict action against china in general assembly .
SHAH OF IRAN , DURING 1962 SENT A COPY OF THE LETTER WRITTEN BY AYUB KHAN TO JAWAHARLAL NEHRU , WHICH PROPOSED THE PAKISTANI REINFORCEMENTS TO INDIAN TROOPS ALONG THE KASHMIRI LINE. PAKISTAN WAS READY TO REINFORCE INDIAN TROOPS WITH SUPPLIES AND MANPOWER.
Nehru lost a golden moment, perhaps one of the most historical moment which bought a Muslim and a Hindu country together under a common enemy even after their division in 1947. India lost the 62 war, Nehru didn’t speak about this plan much in public and many didn’t even knew this. After that many changes took place both geological and political. Pakistan slowly started growing pro-western . USA wanted to balance the communist wave of Chinese in south-east Asia with Pakistan. Nevertheless Pakistan and china continued to deepen ties. Pakistan realized that the dream of Kashmir can be fulfilled only by the Sino-Pakistan bond , both of whom shared a common thing …India is a potential threat. 1963, Under a Peace-treaty Pakistan gave 5180sq.kms of disputed territory to China most of which belonged to Pak occupied Kashmir.
Also in 1963 the road between Xi-jiang and north western Pakistan was laid via the valleys and mountains . it was a very complex task which was regarded as a wonder of its time. Since then china and Pakistan never had to look back. During 1965 it offered a great help during the second Kashmir war or Indo-Pak war of 65 . China supported Pakistan in 1971 liberation war and vetoed against the recognition of east Bangladesh as a Nation in 1972 .
USSR-CHINA DRIFT 1969:
In 1969 a major border conflict took place between 2 major communist powers of the eastern sphere. Ussuri river conflict . West defined it as split of Sino-Soviet watermelon.USA tried to shift china towards itself. Pakistan was the mediator , Henry Kissinger visited china in 1971 in a secret meeting and sought better relations with the “red state” .
ECONOMIC RELATIONS:
The economic relations between china and Pakistan start with the first trade agreement in 1963. Deng xiaping took this relations to new heights. The year 2004 had witnessed 4.26$billion trade between Pakistan and china between 2006 and 2012 saw a growth of trade 7$billion to 12.3$ billion during the same 2012 the investments reached 2$billion from the Chinese side. The free trade agreement of 2006 November accelerated the trade between the 2 countries. It was aimed at a level of 15 billion $ by 2010 but I couldn’t be met .
The target of 15$billion was extended to 2015. Also during the same 2006 china was Pakistan’s 3rd largest import partner amounting to 9.8% of all imports and nearly 3% of all exports with 11th rank as export partner. Pakistan stood in 55th rank for Chinese imports in 2006 amounting to 0.13% and 33rd for exports nearly 0.44% in 2006 . while exports from china to Pakistan rose by 55% from 2004-8 while Pakistani trade grew by 35%. The total projects currently undergoing by Chinese value at 19.87$ billion. The total Chinese FDI was 65$billion in 2013 and most of it was towards Pakistan. The Chinese gave 250million$ aid in 2010 during floods which was the highest given by china to any nation.
DEFENSE , NUCLEAR FIELDS………
Let it be the type56 rifle used by the Pakistan soldiers , the RPG-7 clone , HJ-8 bhaktar shikan ,ZDK-03 AWACS, JF-17 etc etc this list is very big . there is a famous saying that…. Enemy of my enemy is my friend . perhaps it is the only relation that bought china Pakistan this far.Between 2008 to 2012 China took out U.K as the 5th largest arms exporter . this has never happened in the last 20 years Stockholm international peace research institute reported that it grew by 162% of which 55% are Pakistani imports. Durinf the same year Pakistan grew to 3% imports, India 12% , china 6% of global arms market .
Pakistan has also cleared the sale of JF-17 to other countries it costs 15-20 million a piece and it stands as a world class 4th generation fighter jet. On 19th may 2011 New York times reported that ISI allowed Chinese military experts to examine the stealth helicopter that crashed on may in Abottabad.
Pakistan also aspires to produce 8800mw of nuclear power by 2030. Major nuclear projects include chashama nuclear complex and Karachi nuclear complex. By 2017 , 6 power reactors are expected to be fully operational. It is also claimed that china assisted Pakistan from 1976 to acquire nuclear technology.
MILESTONES IN ECONOMY AND DEFENCE
GWADAR PORT: it is located in Baluchistan which in turn shares the borders of Afghanistan and iran.It was bought by Pakistan from Oman in 1958 at 3$ million dollars the foundation for its development started in 2002 in the 1st phase 248 million$ was required of which china invested 198$million in second phase 932 million has to be invested which includes 200$million for roads joining gwadar and Karachi with deeper parts of Pakistan. Gwadar is 72kms from iran and 32kms from Oman coast. It is also the highway to strait of hormuz, which is the china’s main source of oil . nearly 35 % of worlds oil is transported by that sea route since china is one the largest oil consuming nations on the eaeth with 5.46 million barrels of oil per day(7% of the world’s oil) compared to 2 million barrels of oil per day of India as per 2012. Also a large proportion of second phase credit will be invested on ship building facilities in the port. Major part of project will be completed by 2016-17.
INTERNAL ISSUES AND TERRORISM:
China has 56 types of ethinic nationalities and 10 of these are Muslims. China always kept a hold of Pakistan because Pakistan was the only relation between china and Muslim world china strongly trusted that it could control the Muslim world with help of Pakistan.
It has 2 main issues :
Xi-jiang- Xi jiang holds 9 million uighur Muslims. There are serious separatist issues with uighurs not only with china but also with Myanmar.
TTP,lal masjid Islamic brigade carried out deadly attacks on Chinese workers as per 2012 there are 120 major and minor projects covering Pakistan which held 15,000 Chinese workers in Pakistan . these workers were under constant ambush and shootouts. China has seriously warned Pakistan to intensify attacks on Islamist movements since most of these brigades were claimed to be trained in Pakistani soil. China has established many universities in Pakistan and it is believed that nearly 8000 students are pursuing graduation in china. China and Pakistan undertake military and counter terrorism exercises on regularly basis .China banned Islam in 2015 officially and the irony is that
PAKISTAN which claimed itself to be a Champion of Islamic rights on the global stage , still relies on China for her development.
CONCLUSION
CHINA-PAKISTAN are like Brothers , Easy to Say but there Lie many Challenges for Pakistan:
The logic is simple if it is for economic development, if china wants to really reach her goal of doubling or tripling her 4$Trillion economy she needs India as much as she needs Pakistan . Here Pakistan needs china more than china needs Pakistan.for smooth operation of bilateral relations Pakistan needs to give up the religious aspects of Muslim and kafir. Since we are speaking about china and Pakistan also needs to make sure that the poisonous seeds on her soil don’t become trees and shred their poisonous fruits in china like they shred in Afghanistan and India. Mutual development and support among themselves is the only way for a fruitful future.