Pakistan makes no secret of the strength of its ties with China, spanning over 70 years despite the neighboring nations’ differing beliefs, cultures and social systems.
This was most evident when Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar visited China in May and co-chaired the Fifth Pakistan-China Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue, as Islamabad sought to reschedule its debts with Beijing amidst a prevailing economic downturn. Since 1950, when Pakistan became the first Muslim state to recognize the People’s Republic of China, ties between the neighboring states have encompassed diplomacy and military, slowly expanding to include economic relations through a free trade agreement and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Despite their differences, both states have some commonalities, including a shared history of internal instability instigated by non-state actors and a mutual animosity toward India.
The shared geopolitical interests of the two countries have seen their relations grow increasingly cordial, with considerable importance laid on maintaining the “special relationship” between them. Regular high-level exchanges have enabled the establishment of various cooperative measures, while economically, China is now Pakistan’s largest trading partner and a major investor, especially in infrastructure and energy sectors. With the official launch of CPEC, the bilateral relationship has been elevated to an even higher level.
“Pakistan is a low-cost secondary deterrent to India,” opined one Pakistani ambassador, who said Islamabad saw Beijing as a “high-value guarantor of security against India.” This stems from the longstanding rivalry between Pakistan and India, which have fought three wars since 1947 and engaged in several low-level conflicts. Persistent military tensions have facilitated China’s role as a major arms supplier for Pakistan since the 1960s, including assistance in building a number of arms factories in Pakistan and the supply of complete weapons systems. After the 1990 imposition of U.S. sanctions on Pakistan, China became the country’s leading arms supplier, with their ties today encompassing personnel training, joint military exercises, intelligence sharing, and counterterrorism efforts. This has prompted Pakistan to outright declare that it would not sacrifice its relationship with China for the sake of improved ties with the U.S. “Pakistan needs China more than China needs Pakistan,” says Huang Jing, a China expert at the National University of Singapore. This has never been more true than today when Islamabad is struggling to overcome an economic crisis that shows few signs of abating.