Pakistan and China marked the 71st anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between both the countries. During this time, China and Pakistan have enjoyed close and mutually beneficial relationships. Both countries remain steadfast, diplomatic, strategic and economic allies despite the tectonic shift in geopolitical order. Attempts to serve discord between Pakistan and China remained futile.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Chinese President Xi Jinping, the governments and the people of the two countries on the 71st anniversary of the establishment of Pakistan-China diplomatic relations. PM reaffirmed Pakistan’s resolve to further deepen the Pakistan-China strategic and economic cooperative partnership. China has always been there for Pakistan in times of need and upheavals, in the good and in the bad, and so has Pakistan. We have seen a couple of deterrents as far as this relationship is concerned, we have seen what happened in Karachi recently and attempts by certain perpetrators to affect this relationship between the two countries. Pakistan is gathering out a thorough investigation of the terrorist attacks and enhancing the security and safety of Chinese citizens in Pakistan. Whereby, the entire Pakistani nation grieved with the families of the victims and the people of China at the loss of precious lives in the Karachi terrorist attack. Relations with China are the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy enjoying support across the political spectrum.
The recent visit of foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto to China is of significance after the change of government in Pakistan. China has adopted a proactive approach in contemporary times as back in 2013 it was the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) but now recently, it’s the global development initiative and the global security initiative. The recent escalation of events i.e Ukraine War is serving to divide the countries and aims to force countries to choose sides. China is the country right now, which has such increasing stakes in the global economy that it is constantly asking others countries to stop choosing sides and think about inclusive cooperation.
China has been chanting that Indo Pacific is a specific mindset and what is needed is the Asia Pacific and multilateral mechanisms that are uniting countries. In that sense Pakistan is well aware of what is happening in the World, Pakistan is among the countries in the World affected by polarization. Afghanistan the neighbouring country of Pakistan is still in a state of relative uncertainty. In all of these aspects, China and Pakistan have an understanding and both the countries actively have been trying to build consensus on issues that affect both the countries.
CPEC’s relationship started in 2015 which was a transformational paradigm shift where Pakistan went from a geostrategic partnership to a geo-economics partnership. Pakistan and China under the frame of CPEC have come a very long way and this is the cooperation that is constantly involved and constantly reflected. It is true that Pakistan remained better connected with the Western market in the context of trade, with this, Pakistan should also focus to hunt the areas in the Chinese market.
One thing that Pakistan should learn from China is how to empower its people to take the progress forward through projects like CPEC. CPEC is a success of the policymakers, at the same time, it should be businessmen and people of Pakistan that should be thinking creatively in exploring opportunities in China. This has to be a two-way process through a synergy between policymakers and the people.
China’s friendship with Pakistan is on all political dimensions and also Pakistani establishment has good ties with China. Whoever comes in power, friendship with China remains solid. On foreign policy level and diplomatic issues, both China and Pakistan keep supporting each other’s stance. Since the Taliban take over, Afghanistan is facing issues of governance, Pakistan being the immediate neighbour is facing the implications of instability in Afghanistan. Pakistan has been chanting to the World community to support the Afghan people as a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is in favour of Pakistan and the region. China remained supporting Pakistan’s stance on Afghanistan, China is keen to include Afghanistan in its projects of regional connectivity for better delivery of its global initiatives.
China and Pakistan remained all-weather friends during the last seven decades, the two countries are further fortifying their strategic cooperation, enhancing economic projects like CPEC and are helping each other in finding new avenues for bilateral cooperation to the benefit of the two countries and people.
