pak china friendship
In early 1960s, the regional and international environment played an important role in bringing about an upswing in Pakistan-China relations. China, which was under the strong pressure of the West led by the US in those days of the Cold War as shown by the establishment of SEATO and had fought a war with India because of their territorial dispute, needed friends to end its international isolation and counter India in South Asia.
Pakistan because of its strained relations with India was in search of friends in its neighbourhood to neutralise, to some extent, India’s power superiority. China met the demands of Pakistan’s strategic compulsions. Pakistan’s realisation of the strategic importance of its friendship with China increased as it became acutely aware of the unreliability of the Western support in any conflict with India. The 1965 Pakistan-India war confirmed these apprehensions.
The global strategic environment underwent a dramatic change in the 1970s with the rapprochement between the US and China, in which Pakistan had played an important role, to counter the perceived security threat posed by the Soviet Union to both Washington and Beijing. Thus, the Western impediment to the strengthening of Pakistan-China relations was removed. In fact, following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, both Pakistan and the US needed and secured China’s support to defeat the Soviet occupation through the Afghan jihad.
The end of the Cold War in 1991 brought about another dramatic transformation of the global strategic scenario. For about a decade after the end of the Cold War, the US loomed large on the global scene like a colossus. No other country matched its enormous military power and economic strength. There were signs of concern in the 1990s on the part of China about the emergence of the US as the global hegemon and the unipolarity of the international political system. This period also witnessed the commencement of the process of the strengthening of US-India
Pakistan because of its strained relations with India was in search of friends in its neighbourhood to neutralise, to some extent, India’s power superiority. China met the demands of Pakistan’s strategic compulsions. Pakistan’s realisation of the strategic importance of its friendship with China increased as it became acutely aware of the unreliability of the Western support in any conflict with India. The 1965 Pakistan-India war confirmed these apprehensions.
The global strategic environment underwent a dramatic change in the 1970s with the rapprochement between the US and China, in which Pakistan had played an important role, to counter the perceived security threat posed by the Soviet Union to both Washington and Beijing. Thus, the Western impediment to the strengthening of Pakistan-China relations was removed. In fact, following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, both Pakistan and the US needed and secured China’s support to defeat the Soviet occupation through the Afghan jihad.
The end of the Cold War in 1991 brought about another dramatic transformation of the global strategic scenario. For about a decade after the end of the Cold War, the US loomed large on the global scene like a colossus. No other country matched its enormous military power and economic strength. There were signs of concern in the 1990s on the part of China about the emergence of the US as the global hegemon and the unipolarity of the international political system. This period also witnessed the commencement of the process of the strengthening of US-India