Pakistan and China

by Eyck Freymann

The India-Pakistan conflict has fascinated me for some time now, and I want to interpret some of Pakistan's latest overtures to China. (The green country is Pakistan, with India directly below it and China to the Northeast.)

Although at first glance Pakistan and China have little in common - they share no religion, language family, or even historical connection. They are united, however, (and have been for the past 40 years) in their dislike of India. After being partitioned from India in 1947, the Pakistanis claimed Kashmir, the spit of land between itself, India, and China. Wars have been fought over this land, and no resolution is in sight.

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Pakistani President Asif Zardari is now attempting to intimidate India by calling on China's massive economic strength. All of these articles appeared within 12 hours of each other:

• Zardari wants China to be arbitrator for India-Pakistan disputes - Times of India
• PM for stronger Pak-China cooperation - Daily Times (Pakistan)
• Pakistan: Sino-Pakistan relations higher than Himalayas - Xinhua (China)
• Pakistan wants to take benefit from Chinese expertise in Agriculture, power generation - Associated Press of Pakistan 
• PPP, CPC [Pakistani People's Party, Communist Party of China] vow to take Pak-China friendship to new heights - Associated Press of Pakistan
• 
  
  Pakistani president: China's Three Gorges Dam "engineering marvel" [The dam is considered a symbol of Chinese innovation like America's Apollo project] - Xinhua
• China allays Pakistan's fears by promising unswerving friendship - Times of India
• Picking up on the incredible amount of love between Pakistan and China in the past few days, Reuters reported a story two days ago: Pakistan Islamists in a deal with Chinese Communists?

You can't make this stuff up. I didn't even get into Pakistan granting China access to its ports and the signing of the cooperative deal on power production.

Some of the language here is revealing. Clearly, the Pakistani government is in desperate need of aid to fight terror, keep the government afloat, etc. Why else would the President be traveling in a wealthy foreign country praising the local infrastructure?

The TOI's wording is also curious. China is "allaying Pakistan's fears." What are Zardari's fears? Most likely he fears the grassroots terror network which is sweeping his country. Not wishing to cede ground on the Kashmir issue either, he implores China to intercede on his behalf and protect his fragile government from internal revolt and the constant threat from India. But I believe that Zardari understands that his foreign enemies are no match for his domestic ones. Which is why "Pakistan Islamists in a deal with Chinese Communists?" may not seem so loony after all.