Washington: The US Department of Defense says that China depends on Pakistan to project its military and economic power because Islamabad is a key ally of Beijing.
The China Military Power 2022 report – released here on Tuesday – examines how China intends to achieve its “national renewal” goal by 2049 with the help of international partners such as Pakistan.
According to the report, China ranks Pakistan as its only “all-weather strategic partner” while Russia is its only “comprehensive strategic partner with coordination relations”.
Over the past five years, China has expanded relations with both its historic partners, Pakistan and Russia. Pakistan is also one of the places that China has potentially “considered as locations for military logistics facilities”.
China Military Power noted that Beijing has named Islamabad as
its only ‘all-weather strategic partner’ ahead of Moscow.
The report states that China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is associated with projects to build pipelines and ports in Pakistan. But with these projects, China “seeks to become less dependent on the transportation of energy resources through strategic choke points, such as the Straits of Malacca”.
The report added that Beijing seeks to leverage the ties it has forged through the BRI to pursue additional economic cooperation with partner countries.
It recalls that in 2021, 10 Chinese nationals were killed and 26 others injured when a suicide bomber targeted a bus of workers en route to a BRI infrastructure development project in Pakistan.
However, the report claimed that China used the incident to promote closer regional and bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation with Pakistan to “increase its ability to project military power to protect its overseas interests, including the BRI.” used to increase.
Reviewing China’s growing military and economic cooperation with Pakistan, the report notes how Beijing helped Islamabad complete the delivery of a Pakistan remote sensing satellite into orbit.
China has also vigorously pursued its policy of supporting the BRI host country’s security forces through military aid, including donations of military equipment.
Examples of China-Pakistan cooperation cited in the report include joint military exercises. It noted that in 2020-21, China participated in joint naval exercises with Pakistan and also supplied Pakistan with attack-capable Caihong and Wing Loong unmanned aircraft systems.
China has also supplied its partners with larger ships, highlighted by Pakistan’s purchase of eight Yuan-class submarines in 2015 for more than $3 billion. In 2017 and 2018, China sold four warships to Pakistan.
Under the PLANMC, which supports the PRC’s military diplomacy, Chinese forces have trained with Thai, Pakistani, Saudi Arabian, South African and Djibouti forces.
Pakistan is also a member of China-led Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization.
“Military and Security Developments in the People’s Republic of China,” commonly referred to as the China Military Power Report (CMPR), is a congressionally mandated document. It serves as an authoritative assessment of China’s military and security strategy.
The report follows the Pentagon’s October release of its National Defense Strategy, which identified China as the “most consequential and systemic challenge” to US national security and the free and open international order.
The Military Power Report covers the People’s Liberation Army’s method of warfare, surveys the PLA’s current activities and capabilities, and examines its future military modernization goals.
The Pentagon argues that China’s foreign policy seeks to build a “community of shared destiny” that supports its strategy to realize the “great renewal of the Chinese nation”.
It said Beijing’s “revisionist desire” for the international order derives from its national strategy and the aims of the Communist Party’s political and governmental system.
