China pledges support for Pakistan in wake of military aid cut

[kawaraj]

As I said earlier,

A friend in need is a friend indeed, no need to repeat many times.

Guess that also answer this question,

http://www.defence.pk/forums/strate...-pakistan-s-geopolitical-dilema-china-us.html

 

[EjazR]

But unlike Pak and America we are neighbors, and our interests are converging and unlikely to diverge for the foreseeable future.

Well if India-Pakistan relations improve, then Pakistan-China interests will diverge.

The root cause of the instability in Pakistan is having hostile relations with its closest and largest neighbor India. This is something that most top level people in Pakistan are also realizing.


The main question is that although China may help prop up Pakistan against India will it do the same against the US? In the near to medium term, most likely not because it would not like to have the US adopt a hostile position against it.

Something like N. Korea or Iran where China would help where it can help itself as well but if push comes to shove, it will let the US isolate countries like N. Korea or Iran without confronting the US.

After all, for China, Chinese interests come first.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Well if India-Pakistan relations improve, then Pakistan-China interests will diverge.

You're seriously overestimating the importance of India, with regards to Sino-Pakistani relations.

Even if India never existed, China would still be seeking a way to bypass the Malacca straits (Gwadar), would still be looking for a land-link to the Middle East, and would still need a way to control the Xinjiang border.

Get a world map, and cover India with your hand. Even if India never existed, we would still be facing all the same geographical obstacles we do now.

 

[EjazR]

You're seriously overestimating the importance of India, with regards to Sino-Pakistani relations.

Even if India never existed, China would still be seeking a way to bypass the Malacca straits (Gwadar), would still be looking for a land-link to the Middle East, and would still need a way to control the Xinjiang border.

Get a world map, and cover India with your hand. Even if India never existed, we would still be facing all the same geographical obstacles we do now.

Sorry but economically, its is just not possible in the near and medium term to travel over the worlds largest and tallest mountain range through Pakistan. Otherwise China would have established its transport lines through Pakistan long ago. Unless there is some new technology that makes its drastically cheaper and economically feasible to build transport lines through the highest point in the Himalayan range, it will be cheaper to either ship products or use the central asian route as China plans to do with the Afghan mines through Tajikistan. Its just cheaper that way.

China's biggest trade partners are in the Pacific region - East Asia, US and increasingly Australia and Latin America -NOT in the ME region.

From the ME region, it needs energy, but with more nuclear and renewable as well as Gas supplies through Central Asia and oil from Russia, Venezuela and oil sands of Canada will become much cheaper that going for a geographically disadvantageous position in the W. Asian region.


There is nothing wrong with it, its just the way geopolitics works. Common enemies gives a stronger foundation for partnership than feelings of shared goodwill and community. It takes rare occasions and a lot of shared history and commonality to have a relationship like that. Ironically, India and Pakistan do have the shared history and commonality but the initial years have put the trajectory in such path that unless the hostility is dampened that will not happen. We can see this with Indo-Bangladeshi relations for example where close co-operation has emerged out of shared interests rather than a shared enemy.