Pakistan and China - unlikely friends

China and Pakistan are unlikely partners. A communist country with a deep suspicion of religion, and a staunchly Islamic Republic, which at the same time is a multi-party democracy, don't seem to make an ideal match - and they wouldn't, were it not for a shared distrust of their common neighbor, India. Former Pakistani Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad explains the special relationship with China in this way:

"I think it's the geopolitics of the region and common interests because of geopolitics. It is, essentially, the mutuality of benefits and the commonality of interests. There is no emotion involved. I don't think in international politics, there is any emotion."

Disappointed with the West

However, when many in Pakistan's foreign policy circles start talking about international relations, they can become very emotional. That is when they talk about Pakistan's disillusionment with the West, who left the region alone after the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan; left it alone with scores of fundamentalist militants groomed by the West, only to return suddenly after 9/11, demanding Pakistan eliminate militancy. Now again, the West is pouring a lot of money into the country, but only a tiny corrupt elite benefits from this, says Shamshad Ahmad. Now, compare that with China:

"They did not ask us to fight any war. They did not use us for any purpose. And the people here know China only by the symbols of well-being that they have erected in our country. You know, whatever assistance they gave to Pakistan has benefited directly the people. They have built projects like the Karakoram Highway, which provides a linkage between Pakistan and China itself, but it has helped the people of Pakistan in terms of trade and interaction."

There is a long list of similar projects that combine a certain strategic value with tangible benefits for millions of Pakistanis - from nuclear power plants to the new deep-water sea port at Gwadar.

Trade can be tricky

And of course, there are the Chinese goods that have swamped the markets in Pakistan just as anywhere else.

They are a tough competition for Pakistani industrialists. And Sadiq-ur-Rehman Rana, a consultant who has been working with China for decades, has good experience with Chinese producers, but says handling the thousands of Chinese trade houses that dominate bilateral trade can be quite a challenge for a Pakistani trader:

"In China, there is no branded production. So the trade house doesn't tell him who is the manufacturer, and he signs the agreement, and then later on he is sent a low-tech item sometimes."

Pakistani businessman Almas Haider says, "there is a tremendous language barrier, which actually has to be somehow managed. Because whatever you are saying may be misunderstood and you might get a wrong thing from them."

China as a model

For Sadiq-ur-Rehman Rana, who studied Chinese in China in the 1970s, there is no language barrier. Like most Pakistanis, the consultant admires China's pace of development:

"I feel that in Pakistan also fast-paced; widespread industrialization is the solution for countering the fundamentalism. If we have this fast-paced and widespread industrialization in Pakistan, a lot of things can change. Minds can open up. I have seen China in the last days of the Cultural Revolution, the planned economy in 1974-76. But then, the commune system dissolved and the fast-paced industrialization made a big change of mindset. It's a different society!"

With China's cheap technology becoming more and more advanced, the mainly defense-related strategic alliance with Pakistan is becoming more broad-based. Although economic cooperation has its difficulties, more and more Pakistanis are interested in benefiting from China's growth.

Author: Thomas Baerthlein
Editor: Disha Uppal