Playing a long game China picked Pakistan as a
client state immediately after the Partition of India when Kashmir catapulted
to the bone of contention between India and Pak. Ironically, at this time China
was slowly emerging as a unified state whereas India gets fragmented. China
drew the right conclusions:
Even though China was not a party to this great
divide, China knew that she is becoming a great nation at the expense of the United
India onto her west. By 1949, China was in closer contact with the
rulers of Pakistan than with Nehru of India. For the Chinese calculus, India and
Pakistan remaining at loggerheads is a boon not a bane. There are three prongs
to this iron brother legend:
On the political and diplomatic angle Pakistan is a
friendly neighbour to China oftentimes acting as go-between her and the hostile
west chiefly USA & UK. This culminated when the Ping-Pong diplomacy
engineered by Pakistan brought the two antagonistic nations Chia and America to
a parley where Nixon and Mao met in Beijing in 1972. In fact Pakistan was reciprocating China for the
assistance she extended during the Bangladesh independence struggle
which India masterminded leading to the loss of East Pakistan eventually.
Since then, Pak was in tight embrace with China whose
relationship binds both as “Iron Brothers”. Hence making
Pakistan as a geopolitical power of note is vital for China. Since the ouster
of Imran Khan Pakistan was almost isolated diplomatically. This did not give
any heart-ache to China. Instead
she gave all-round diplomatic support to Pak to wade through the political crisis.
“Operation
Sindoor” by India and her resultant loss of military hardware including
fighter jets gave Pakistan greater prestige.
In terms of geostrategy China ensured that Pak has top
rung military preparedness where India was forced to fight a single front with
two nations: Pakistan directly
and China indirectly. Downing of several Rafale planes in dog-fights
made Pak a peer competitor to India despite the latter’s enormous size in terms
of land and other resources.
The third prong of Sino-Pak ties is anchored on geoeconomics. You know
the simple truth: Pak is an indebted nations who live from one dole out to other
happily granted by the World Bank. What is exacerbating is the rising quantum
of yearly dose infused by the WB/IMF Duo. Yet, the cream on the cake cannot be
ignored: China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) a 3,000 km infra-structure
project that links China to the Indian Ocean. CPEC is estimated to cost more
than USD 65 Billion at the current prices. What is astonishing is that, the
United States with all the ballyhoo, does not lift a finger against neither Pak
nor China. Both are in the
same capitalistic game. How to divide the colossal mineral wealth of
Pakistan estimated to be around USD 8 Trillion. That vouches for the Geoeconomics
clout Pak has now got to flaunt.
The bottom line is what kind of a business strategy
the corrupt Pak leaders would unveil to capitalize on the mineral findings. What
is certain is China finally succeeded in making Pakistan a strategic front in
all three areas: geopolitics,
and geostrategy and now in geoeconomics!
Cheers!
Muthu Ashraff Rajulu
Business Strategist
Mobile: + 94 777 265677
E-mail: cosmicgems@gmail.com
Blog: Business Strategist
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