The Times of India reports that Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari has requested that China become an arbitrator for disputes between other countries in Asia:
India has sternly rejected suggestions of third party assistance in resolving bilateral issues like the Kashmir disputes. Zardari has now given a new twist to Pakistan’s diplomatic game by replacing the United States with China as the possible third-party that could help resolve the India-Pakistan disputes.
The Pakistani president praised China for its many qualities and then went on to say, “China is therefore in a unique position to use these attributes to help its neighboring countries improve relations among and between themselves”…“China is the glue holding the continent together – not only in terms of geography but in political and economic terms,” the Pakistani president said in a signed article in the state-run China Daily today. Entitled “Sino-Pakistan relations higher than Himalayas“, the article showered fulsome praise on China describing it as “an anchor of stability and peace not only in Asia but the world”.
At the same time, Zardari shrewdly played on Chinese fears about separatists in its Xinjiang province getting support from Islamic fundamentalists across the border in Pakistan. “We are determined not to allow the noxious fumes of this dangerous phenomenon and ideology to spread to other countries,” Zardari said. He claimed that “Pakistan is fighting terrorists not only for its own sake but for the entire region.”
Last week, China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Jiang Wu stated that China, India and Pakistan are “mutual friends” that should work together for peace:
Yu said, “China and Pakistan maintain good bilateral relations, as there has been frequent high-level exchange of visits and cooperation in economic, trade, energy, agriculture, transportation and other fields is going smoothly.” “The friendly cooperation between China and Pakistan is in the fundamental interest of the peoples of the two countries.
Comparatively, last week Time Magazine reported that China-Pakistan relations were “fraying”:
However, with Pakistan’s security situation growing increasingly volatile and economic conditions turning dire, there may be a turn in tide between these once intimate friends. “The situation is much different now than once upon a time,” says William Kirby, T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies at Harvard University. “India has emerged as a much more powerful force in the region and Pakistan has not succeeded in the way that hopeful and loyal supporters had once imagined. It is now one of the great security risks in the region.”
Instead of increasing assistance to its old ally, Beijing has apparently been keeping a distance from Islamabad. During Zardari’s visit in October, the Chinese snubbed the Pakistani President’s request for a full-blown economic bailout. While Beijing did grant Islamabad a soft loan last year worth $500 million, it was nowhere near the estimated $14 billion experts say is needed to get Pakistan back on its feet. “The cooperation we saw during the Musharraf era just isn’t there anymore,” says Sayem Ali, an economist with Standard Chartered Bank in Karachi. “China would rather develop better relations with India and the U.S., which is not great news for Pakistan because it has always relied on China’s help.”
See also past CDT posts on China-Pakistan relations.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia.
