Abstract:

This research has explored the Chinese revolution that how it is regaining its spot in the
heavy weights of the world. It elaborates the factors of gaining influence by China all over
the world and the journey to become the second world economy of the world. It explains its
diplomatic relationship with Pakistan and how it grown up since 1951. It also includes the
strategic relations between China and Pakistan and how they help each other in a lot of
countries defensive and international issues like Kashmir issue. After that, it describes the
China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) importance for both China and Pakistan. Also,
how Pakistan and China have more tighten up with each other because of CPEC. In the end,
it elaborates the factors that somehow prove the China as a threat to Pakistan’s industries by
investing in Pakistan.

Introduction:

People’s Republic of China came into being in 1949. Pakistan was one of those countries that
recognized People’s Republic of China first. Pakistan and China established their diplomatic
relationship in 1951. These two countries are now recognized as the closest friends. China
has a great influence among the Asian countries as of being the highest in population of 1.2
billion and as an emerging world power. Pakistan and China have a very strong bond since
1951. They have supported each other in the worst conditions. Take an Example of
Karakoram Highway; the highway is a masterpiece of this long-lasting friendship. It shows
how China and Pakistan has worked together in a lot of things. In Sino-Indian war 1962,
Pakistan supported China. In Indo-Pak war 1947, China supported Pakistan. So, both
countries are now bounded in a strong friendship. Let’s see the other side of this relationship.
We will discuss this in four sections:

Section-I covers How China is now becoming a strong economic power. How is it getting a
lot of influence all around the world? The optimistic approach of China to reach its goal to
become the superpower to replace United States of America, economically and strategy wise.
Its relations with the other powerful and developed countries. The allies of China and how
China is dealing with them. Its relationships with the Asian countries.

Section-II explains how China and Pakistan became the strategic allies. How Pakistan has
favored China to be included in United Nations (UN). The friendship that has these strong
bases that it has upheld since 1951 till now. The factors that made them this strong bond

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between two totally different nations. China is supporting Pakistan in resolving the Kashmir
issue. How China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a boost up shot for Pakistan’s
Economy? How is China helping Pakistan to achieve this such a difficult goal? The bilateral
co-operation between Pakistan and China to fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

Section-III covers that is China really a threat to Pakistan industries. Chinese influence on
Pakistan and its industries and how China has grown up its roots so strong in Pakistan. How
are China investments capturing Pakistan’s economy? Why Pakistan industries are so
dependent on China?

Influence of China that strengthen it all around the world:

If you see the last three or four decades, China has rapidly increased its influence all around
the world. This is because the countries are seeing that US the superpower for now has
struggling with a lot of issues. As if you see they have their own conflicts and a lot of
countries that were in the US circle are now converted to China’s favor. This is only because
they are thinking that US would no longer have that influence and power as it has the past.
Besides China has strengthen its collaborations with a lot of countries by its economic
development. In the following pictures you can clearly see that how China has gained the
influence round the world.

In 2000 (China influence)

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 In 2020 (Growth of China influence)

China as an Emerging Superpower:

In the past two decades, China has re-emerged as a major power, with the world’s second largest
economy and a world class military. It increasingly maintains itself, seeking to regain its centrality in the
international system and over global governance institutions such as World Bank, International
Monetary Fund etc. You can see from the past how China is doing so. They maintain their relationships
with international systems and global governance institutions despite its conflicts with US as you know
that all these institutions were established by US after the World War II. Overall, we can say that China is
regaining its power that he had lost after the 18’s and 19’s.

China’s Relations with Important Developed and Powerful Countries

With Russia:

China and Russia currently enjoy the best relations they have had since the late 1950s. Although they
have no formal alliance, the two countries do have an informal agreement to coordinate diplomatic and
economic moves and build up an alliance against the United States. The Sino-Soviet split was the
breaking of political relations between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union caused by
doctrinal divergences that arose from their different interpretations and practical applications of
Marxism–Leninism, as influenced by their respective geopolitics during the Cold War.

With United States (US):

The relationship between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United States of America (USA)
has been complex since 1949. After 1980 the economic ties grew rapidly. The relationship is one of close
economic ties, as well as hegemonic rivalry in the Asia-Pacific. The U.S.-China relationship is the most

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complex bilateral relationship for the United States. Over the last 30 years, Sino-American relations have
undergone an impressive transformation from conflicts to open dialogues and constructive cooperation.

China’s Relations with two famous Asian Rivals (Pakistan and India)

With India:

India and China have historically maintained peaceful relations for thousands of years, but the harmony
of their relationship has varied in modern times, especially after the Chinese Communist Party's seizure
of power in 1949. In short, it was a political debacle and not a failure of the forces. However, just 5 years
later, India defeated China in 1967. A battle that not too many people are aware of, nor do we speak
about it much. Although now, the two nations have sought economic cooperation with each other but,
they are also in conflicts in the recent times.

With Pakistan:

Pakistan has a long and strong relationship with China. The long-standing ties between the two countries
have been mutually beneficial. A close identity of views and mutual interests remain the center point of
bilateral ties. Since establishing diplomatic ties in 1951, China and Pakistan have enjoyed a close and
mutually beneficial relationship. Pakistan was one of the first countries to recognize the People’s
Republic of China in 1950 and remained a steadfast ally during Beijing’s period of international isolation
in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Strategic alliance between Pakistan and China:

Pakistan and China have been enjoying the close relationship since they established their diplomatic
relations in 1951. From that, this glorious alliance started. Pakistan consider China as its closest friend
among the countries and China considered Pakistan as its “Iron Brother”. Both countries have now
established an “All Weather Strategic Alliance”. The bilateral relationship between the two neighboring
countries is characterized by feeling of mutual trust respect and goodwill towards each other. The
strategic cooperation between Pakistan and China has grown over the past several decades.

The main powers of both countries have a lot of visits since the establishment of diplomatic relation. In
1955, exactly after the four years of alliance, Vice president Madam Song Ching Ling visited Pakistan. In
1963, the Foreign Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto visited China. In this visit, Pakistan and China concludes
boundary agreement through peaceful negotiations. In 1964, Pakistan International Airline (PIA) starts its
flights to Beijing, so Pakistan became the first non-communist country that has an airline to fly from
Beijing.

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If you know, Pakistan had helped China to be the permanent member of United Nations (UN). Now
China has become the permanent member to be precise of Security Council along with United States
(US), United Kingdom (UK), France and Russia. There is a benefit for Pakistan in it as when Pakistan
come with the issue of Kashmir, China of course exercises a VETO power. VETO is a constitutional
right to reject a decision or proposal made by a lawmaking body.

Pakistan and China, Partners in Wars:

In 1962, Pakistan supported China in the Indian-Sino war. Pakistan is indeed an important country of
Asia which share boundary with both China and India. China was looking for an ally that could stand by
it in hard times, morally if not materially. In this case, Pakistan was an obvious option for China to make
a long-lasting relation. The old nation of Sino-Indian friendship “Hindi Cheeni bhai bhai” was replaced
by “Pak Cheen Dosti”. The companionship between the two countries became very strong and is still
going on. The foreign policy of Pakistan titled towards China and China comes up to support Pakistan.

In 1965, when the Indo-Pak war happened, China was supporting Pakistan morally and materially.
China supported Pakistan with arms and equipment in that war.  Considering India’s aggressive
action China issued a strong ultimatum to India to avoid the usage of Sino-Indian border as a
vantage point for military installation. This warning for sure to serve Pakistan’s interest and
to divert India’s attention from crossing the Line of Control (LoC).

These are the two most famous examples of there two strong allies that how they are
committed to each other as strategic partners. There are a lot of examples in the history that
how they help and support each other in the misery.

The Kashmir Issue:

China has always spoken out for the right of Kashmiris to self-determination with courage
and boldness and the Kashmiri people consider China as their shelter for resolving the
Kashmir issue. China has always defended Pakistan’s rights at the international level.

China Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA):

China and Pakistan mutually started to negotiate the free trade agreement on 24th November 2006 and
signed the agreement on 7th July 2007. This agreement was to increase trade and strengthen the
partnership between the two countries. It was to improve the trade between the two companions.

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Production of JF-17 Aircrafts:

Pakistan and China agreed to produce an aircraft JF-17 as a trademark of Pak-China friendship. The first
ever JF-17 which is in China called FC-1 Xiaolong. Pakistan named it as JF-17 Thunder. The first was
designed in China with the co-operation of Pakistan in June 2007. In Pakistan, it started to produce in
January 2008 with the co-operation of China. Hence, both countries strengthened their militaries with the
aircraft, and they are producing it since then. About 164 units have now been developed with the mutual
co-operation of the two contenders. JF-17 Thunder was inducted in Pakistan Airforce (PAF) in February
2010.

Agreement on Tourism Co-operation:

Pakistan and China have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the promotion of bilateral
tourism among the countries in the Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO). It was signed during the
China-Pakistan Two Way Tourism Promotion Conference. The initiative was to grow up the tourism in
the two allies and to strengthen the bond between the two countries.

Karakoram Highway:

The Karakoram Highway, also known as the Friendship Highway in China, was built by the
governments of Pakistan and China. It was started in 1962 and was completed and opened to
the public in 1978. Pakistan initially favoured routing through Mintaka Pass. In 1966, China,
citing the fact that Mintaka would be more susceptible to air strikes, recommended the
steeper Khunjerab Pass instead. About 810 Pakistanis and about 200 Chinese workers lost
their lives, mostly in landslides and falls, while building the highway. Over 140 Chinese
workers who died during the construction are buried in the in Gilgit.

On the Pakistan side, the road was built by Frontier Works Organization (FWO). Employed
by Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers. The Karakoram Highway is a best example of Pak-
China ever-lasting friendship and the strategic alliance.

China Pakistan Economic Corridor:

Xi Jinping president of China during his first official visit to Pakistan in 2015 resulted in the
signing of significant project of CPEC. This project covered several sectors of activities in
both states. This project targeted the areas like, energy sector, agriculture sector, trade sector,
commerce sector, infrastructure sector and communication sector. Therefore, the project
covers almost all the sectors of economy. It also provides China a path into the Persian Gulf

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that provided a new look to Pak- China geostrategic relations. Under CPEC Pakistan has
resolved its energy shortage issue. Some of energy projects have been completed and
remaining are under process of development. At the occasion of the first visit of China’s
president, he said:

“This will be my first visit to Pakistan, but I feel as if I am going to visit the home of my
own brother.”

The CPEC is aimed at to support connectivity across Pakistan with development projects in
the sector of infrastructure and project of energy development that is the dire need to
accelerate economic growth of Pakistan. The whole value of these infrastructures and power
projects agreed under CPEC has risen from the $46 billion to $62 billion as investment
initially announced in 2015. Beijing has planned to provide finance for the greater part of the
CPEC plan and Pakistan is also required to invest for transport project.

The final aim of CPEC is to develop 3,200-km energy and trade routes between the Chinese
city of Kashgar located in Xinjiang and the Pakistani port of Gwadar. In this way, Western
China will be connected to the Indian Ocean.

“Regional connectivity remains high on Pakistan’s growth policy as its geo-strategic

location offers a unique opportunity to connect South, West and Central Asia.” (Jinqiong
& keyu, 2017)

Such Regional connectivity has remained on the Sino-Pakistani collaboration agenda since
decades. The Gwadar port, a pivot around which the whole CPEC project is built, was built in
early 2000.

The strategic ties between these two states are being considered advantageous in the region of
South Asia (Hussain, 2018). This Pak-China cooperation is resulting in continuous progress
and getting more and stronger especially in present time. Such closeness is result of
numerous changes that have occurred at the regional and international levels. In early 21st
century strategic dynamics of South Asia have been changed entirely. Such change become
more noticeable when US involved its military in Afghanistan. Now both China and Pakistan
have felt the need of each other in the field of economy, politics, and strategy. Like other
players of international politics, it is the part of Chinese foreign policy to develop strategic
ties with the developing states and to re-aligned or re- adjust its bilateral and multilateral

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relations. Such situation has made both China and Pakistan of special importance for each
other.

Bilateral co-ordination in the wake of the Corona Virus pandemic:

In early February, when Covid-19 was primarily affecting China and a number of East Asian
countries, the China Daily reported that the Hunza region in Gilgit-Baltistan, donated 7,000
surgical masks to China through the Chinese embassy in Pakistan. This was one of the many
messages of solidarity from Pakistan to China, that also included a Senate Resolution in
support of China’s efforts, and an exchange between the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran
Khan and Chinese President Xi Jinping. An even stronger message of amity was delivered a
month later, through a high-profile visit by the Pakistani President Arif Ali Alvi to China in
March 2020.

Besides this, China has cooperated with both the Federal government in Islamabad with PM
Imran Khan publicly announcing China’s aid to Pakistan. For provincial governments, in
particularly in Sindh and Punjab. Sindh received 500,000 face masks, including 50,000 N-95
masks. Also, a Chinese University worked with Pakistani medical experts to convert a
university campus into a 1000 bed field hospital in Lahore, Punjab.

China as a Threat to Pakistan Industries:

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has deepened the decades-long strategic
relationship between the two Asian nations. But there is a lot of criticism has made on it
including that it burdens Pakistan with mountains of debt, allowing China to use “debt-trap
diplomacy” to gain access to strategic assets. While some criticism is valid, as if we look at
the economic growth and overall social instability in Pakistan before CPEC. Nawaz Sharif,
Pakistan’s prime minister-elect at the time, leaned into CPEC, leveraging Chinese financing
and technical assistance in an attempt to end power shortages that had paralysed his country’s
economy.

Eight years later, China’s influence in Pakistan has only increased. Pakistan and China have a
strategic relationship that goes back decades. It was then only natural that Pakistan would
turn to China at a time when it needed a rapid increase in external financing to meet critical
investments in hard infrastructure, particularly power plants and highways. CPEC’s early

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projects met this need, leading to a dramatic increase in Pakistan’s power generation
capacity, bringing an end to the load shedding that occurs with a sequence day to day.

China Capturing Pakistan’s Economy:

According to officials, Chinese investments have not only been focused on bilateral
governmental investments. In 2016, 40 percent of Pakistan Stock Exchange’s shares
were sold to a Chinese consortium, and in 2018, Ant Financial, an affiliate of the Chinese
Alibaba Group, invested $184.5 million to buy a 45 percent stake in Pakistan’s Telenor
Microfinance Bank. In November 2020, two Chinese companies reached an agreement to set
up a cell phone manufacturing plant in Faisalabad. A Chinese textile manufacturer
is investing $150 million to build a manufacturing facility in Lahore to export sportswear to
Western markets. There are much more examples that Chinese investors are now becoming
very powerful especially in Pakistan since the CPEC projects were started.

To fully maximize the potential of current Chinese investments, and to build capacity to pay
back the dollar-denominated debts taken on to finance these projects, Pakistan’s
policymakers need to pursue much-needed structural reforms that address these underlying
weaknesses. The need for reform has been articulated by a broad segment of Pakistan’s
economic analysts. Reforms are badly needed in the power sector, for example, where
increased power generation has aggravated the sector’s debt crisis as of June 2020, more than
$13 billion had been accumulated in what is known as circular debt.

More or less same kind of feelings being expressed by the business community in Pakistan,
and they worry about debt burden. While cautioning for very careful approach, the chief
executive of Pakistan Business Council says, “Ten years’ tax concessions, 90-year leases for
Chinese companies and cheap imports will impact the competitiveness of existing domestic
industries”. Despite reservation being shown by business community over the preferential
treatment being offered to Chinese companies, some economist like Mushtaq Khan, former
chief economic advisor to the State Bank of Pakistan, acknowledge that the country debt to
China is increasing and there is no viable alternative except China, the Beijing cannot afford
to bankrupt Pakistan because of its strategic nature and counterweight to India.

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Conclusion:

Concluding all the discussion, we can say that Pakistan and China’s relations are one of the
best examples in the history to prove that any two nations can be as good as they are if they
maintain their relations with love, support in any condition, engage the people of the two
countries to spread love between each other and have faith on each other. Sino-Oak
diplomatic relations are now a lot tied up because of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor
(CPEC). These two strategic allies have supported each other in all conditions even in wars.
China and Pakistan no doubt are the greatest allies of all time. But there is a bit more. We can
say that Chinese investments have put lot of pressure on Pakistan’s business as they are
coming with investments again and again. No doubt it can be for a good and noble reason but
there could be the opposite side o the mirror. CPEC project is a very beneficial project for
Pakistan, but it is a lot more for China as they have put some heavy investments in it. So, it
could be a drawback for Pakistan. But overall, China has proven the best strategic ally of
Pakistan as whenever Pakistan has looked towards China, China helped Pakistan with its
best.

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References:
 Council on Foreign Relations, China Approach to Global Governance
(www.cfr.org/china-global-governance/)
 History Pak, Indo-China War 1962 (www.historypak.com/indo-china-
war-1962/)
 Wikipedia, Karakoram Highway
(www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakoram_Highway)
 Wikipedia, JF-17 Thunder (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAC/PAC_JF-
17_Thunder)
 Filippo Boni, Sino-Pakistani Relations in the times of COVID-19 (Ali
Madad Sakhirani, Pexels, 2020)
 Manzoor Ali Isran & Shehla Najib Siddiki, CPEC: Threat or Opportunity
(Canadian Center of Science and Education, 2019)
 Uzair Younus, Pakistan’s Growing Problem with its China Economic
Corridor (www.usip.org/publications/2021/05/pakistans-growing-
problem-its-china-economic-corridor)

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