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156Emporium Current EssaysPeople's Republic of China is working to speed with allround transformation. Despitechanges that are far-reaching both for the Chinese society and the role of China in theworld, an element that remains unchanged is Pakistan's relations with China. These retainthe warmth that has been an abiding feature of this model friendship between the twocountries in the Third World for over three decades now.»One expression of this enduring aspect of Pakistan-China relations is last week's visit of the Leader of the Opposition and former Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif andhis delegation to China, which is the first such visit by a Leader of Opposition to thePeople's Republic, where he was received warmly, virtually as a head of government withmeetings right up to Premier Li Peng. .China's rise has to he seen to be believed. And it is a rise fuelled by economic progress, political stability, a leadership with a vision and a will to transform China into anindependent player on the international scene. China' foreign trade is growing faster thanthat of any other country in the world. In 1980 China' exports were less than S10 billionannually. At present, these are more than S 120 billion and by the year 2000, the Chineseexports are expected to cross S200 billion per year, over S40 billion each year to theUnited States alone. Around' 60 per cent of all direct, foreign investment received by theThird World countries gdes to China, and in the last15 years, foreign investment in Chin has totalled $135 billion, with1995 alone accounting for almost S40 billion in direct foreign investment.China is also witnessing a growth rate which has been quite phenomenal for itsconsistency, averaging around 10-12 per cent per annum since 1980. Although such progress is currently confined to economy and trade, with China being the only major military power who has frozen its defence budget and cut down its army from 4 millionto 2.9 million, the United States, which prides on itself beingEmporium Current Essays157the sole superpower, views China as a potential economic, political and militarycompetitor.For instance, the National Defence University in Washington is working on study that issaid to project China surpassing the United States as a superpower in 35 years. And aclassified war-war-game, simulated by the American Navy in 1994, had China' Navy,
 
which is still far from being a blue water navy, having "defeated" the US Seventh Fleet in2010, i.e., in another 15 years.Some features of the rise of China to the front ranks of not just developing but alsodeveloped countries are noteworthy, and this emergence of an economically and politically powerful China is also symbolic of the rise of Asia at the close of the 20thcentury. These include:$* Apart from being the world' fastest growing economy, politically too, China is probably the only country capableof resisting multifaceted US pressure on such diverse issue a, human rights. Tibet, Taiwan, intellectual property rights,| the issue of China's nuclear and missile co-operation withI Pakistan and Iran, and the signing of the Comprehensive| Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).I £="• China is forging ahead through a three-pronged approach that combines politicalstability and unified leadership under the vanguard role of the Communist Party, theruling party's ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong thought'' has been subtly and skilfully set aside to make room for anon-ideological pragmatism and an accent on economic| prosperity for people who, therefore, end up having both ashare in progress and a stake in the system.fe" A foreign policy based on peace on it borders as well as building a new strategic fromRussian President Boris Yeltsin's recent visit to China, which can be termed as the firstserious initiative towards a multipolar world since the '<;nd of the Cold War in 1991,which gave rise to a unipolar world dominated almost entirely by the United States.For Pakistan, given its abiding intimacy with China, three aspects of this resurgence of China are significant. First, China is a stickler for principles, remaining committed to a perspective even if it takes decades for its position to be accepted. For instance, it took China over two decades before it was given its rightful place in the United NationsSecurity Council as a representative of China inEmporium Current Essays159
 
158Emporium Current Essays place of Taiwan which had occupied that position since the end of World War II.A similar attitude of China is evident on such issues as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.China patiently waited and negotiated an agreement for the peaceful return of Hong Kongwhich will now take place on July 1,1997, while Portugal will return Macau to China in1999. China is willing to wait it out on Taiwan as well, and it has given an innovative proposal based on "one country, two systems". For instance, in 1971 when Dr. HenryKissinger visited China for the first time via Pakistan, he was received by Premier ZhouEn-Lai in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in a room of the Fujian province (each province of Chin has a room under its name), since Taiwan is considered by China as being part of the Fujian province. The Pakistani former Prime Minister, for example, wasreceived by the Chinese leadership in the Xinjiang room of the Great Hall of the Peopleand this is one province of China which borders Pakistan and which is a Muslim majority.Referring to their recent problems with the British over Hong Kong the Chinese make aninteresting analogy between the role of Mountbatten, Britain's last Viceroy to India, in1947, who left the legacy of the Kashmir issue remains unresolved to date with Britain'slast Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, who has suddenly discovered a love for democracy and is leaving behind the Hong Kong Legislative Council, which is provokingthe Chinese sensitivity in a territory that they will be governing in a year's time.The second aspect which is of interest is the role of India in this emerging equation of China' rise. There are those who feel that China and India are restoring their oldrelationship which pre-datcd the period of Pakistan-China friendship, and there are otherswho feel that India is being promoted as a "card" and a counterweight by the UnitedStates to pressurise China as and when required. At least on one count, the myth of Indiaemerging as a possible competitor to China needs to be set at rest. Certain stark economicfacts are evident in this regard. Today, only 65 million Chinese live in absolute poverty,i.e., only 5 per cent of the population. In India, almost 30 per cent people, i.e., over 300million live below the poverty line. By the middle of the next century, China, expects to become a middle income country with a population of less than 1.6 billion. India, by thenwill be the worlds' most populous country with a per capita income of less than half of China.On top of this, China is well aware of the fact that India today continues to host Tibet'sDalai Lama who is based in Northern India and who uses his headquarters in India to propagateagainst China's integrity and unity by calling for the independence of Tibet. China is alsoaware of the fact that in all international for a, India's strategic raison d'frre for its nuclear  programme is the alleged "threat" from China.
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