| News Details |
| China ‘Buys’ Pakistan for $46 Billion | |
By Allabaksh
‘Iron brothers’ China and Pakistan have got into a tighter embrace. China has pledged a massive $46 billion injection in Pakistan. Though most of the money will reportedly go to the infrastructure and energy sectors, there is also a strategic angle to it that can only work against India’s interest.
The Chinese bounty knocks out both the United States and Saudi Arabia from their position as Pakistan’s most generous benefactors. It may also signal a decline in their leverage over Pakistan. Islamabad and the real power centre, Rawalpindi, were quite pleased with Washington as long as it was lukewarm towards India. The US warming towards India has not gone down well in the land of the pure.
The Saudis have extended patronage to different shades of Pakistani leadership, in addition to pumping in billions of dollars in aid. But the Saudis have embarrassed their Pakistani clients by asking for overt help in Yemen where Shia militias, allegedly backed by Iran, are bombing their way to power. Throughout the ups and downs in Pakistan’s relations with other countries, it has never wavered in making common cause with China.
The two ‘enemies’ of India, China and Pakistan, collaborate to undermine India in every possible way. The extraordinary Chinese munificence is greatly welcome in Pakistan because its roguish behaviour and duplicitous policies have made it a near pariah state in the world. Some Indians may disagree, but it is hard to see China using its influence over Pakistan to make peace with India. The Chinese had, after all, cultivated Pakistan to contain India and that policy continues.
It is not known how the $46 billion will be spent in Pakistan. It does not have any direct military component, but indirectly it certainly has. A major portion of the Chinese money will go into building roads and other infrastructure to link Western China with Balochistan at the South-western tip of Pakistan—a distance of 3000 km. From China the route will traverse through Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
It is part of a continuous Chinese attempt to develop areas close to India, ostensibly for trade and economic activities but with a clear potential for military use. It raises security concerns for India. The Chinese claim that the development of the region close to India is being taken up for the benefit of the people. But no one can be unaware of the fact that the roads, bridges and other infrastructure in parts of China close to India and the PoK will facilitate easy deployment of troops and military equipment. The Chinese are quick to wrongly protest whenever India takes up a development project in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, which the Chinese claim as their own, but reject rightful Indian objections over their activities in PoK, also a ‘disputed’ area.
The US influence over Pakistan till recently stemmed from its deep ties with the Pakistani military, the most influential and powerful institution in the country. The US gladly fulfilled the wishes of the military for all kinds of modern weaponry and kept the generals in good mood. Then came a time, following 9/11, when the US began to be suspicious of Pakistan, especially its army and its notorious intelligence wing, the ISI. The US had never cared too much for the civilian rulers in Pakistan because they could be dictated to by the men in uniform. The civilian rulers while being subservient to the military are also known to make common cause with the fundamentalists and whip up anti-US sentiments for short term gains.
With the gradual erosion in the superpower status of the US, Pakistan has been looking for China to become its foremost patron, replacing Washington as both arms supplier and aid giver. The military in Pakistan has every reason to be pleased with the Chinese who have emerged as the biggest weapon supplier to Pakistan.
Both the military and civilian rulers in Pakistan now see their ‘iron brother’, not the US, as their best guarantor against any ‘threat’ from India. The Pakistani gratitude for China goes back to the days when China supplied them nuclear know-how for making the bomb and even tested their nuclear device.
Pakistani analysts believe that most of the road and energy projects under the Chinese aid are likely to be completed in one to three years. The fruits of the Chinese bounty will be visible soon. But that does not guarantee any change in Pakistan’s rabid anti-India policies.
The pace at which the country is being radicalised is alarming. In fact, some in Pakistan itself fear that if the pace of radicalisation and extremism is not checked, the massive Chinese aid will not deliver the intended results. The Chinese are aware that the Turkic-speaking Uighur Muslim militants find safe havens in Pakistan. In the restive Balochistan province of Pakistan it may not be easy to execute projects in the face of hostility by Baloch nationalists.
Within Pakistan, there is a feeling that, as has always been the case, the Chinese aid will bolster the interests of Punjab while ignoring the rest of the country. The Chinese are well aware of the internal dynamics of Pakistan but expect Pakistan to sort out these problems if they have to derive real benefits from their aid package, which outweighs all foreign direct investment in Pakistan since 2009.
Some Indian analysts do not believe that the Chinese have aggressive designs on India and expect the Chinese aid to alter Pakistan’s anti-India DNA. This is a very optimistic assessment not warranted by past events. China is the emerging world power that uses its ‘cash power’ to win friends abroad but does not hesitate to threaten its southern and south-eastern neighbours. The Chinese policy of encircling India is not fiction. There can be no doubt that the roads China is building in PoK will be open to military use.
India cannot, of course, stop China from helping Pakistan in any manner that it likes. The $46 billion aid, we are told, will help Pakistan build its tattered economy. How that will help peace in the sub-continent is not clear. Since Independence in 1947, Pakistan has received many times more aid, in dollars and military hardware, than most countries in the developing world. It failed to shore up Pakistan’s economy. An improved economy in Pakistan will free up more funds for purchasing military weapons—for use against India. Any doubt!
(The writer is a Kashmir based freelance journalist)
(Opinions expressed in write-ups/articles/Letters are the sole responsibility of the authors and they may not represent the Scoop News)
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