BEIJING – US accusations against Pakistan would further strengthen alreadyclose ties between Pakistan and China, a report in China’s Global Timesnewspaper said on Thursday.
Two important advances in financing and military cooperation betweenPakistan and China have been reported following Donald Trump’s latestTwitter attack on Islamabad, the paper said.
According to the report, the State Bank of Pakistan’s statement that publicand private sectors are free to choose the Chinese currency for bilateraltrade, may not be a dramatic policy change, but the timing made the movesignificant.
A day after Trump’s tweet against Pakistan, the State Bank announced thatit has taken measures to ensure the use of the yuan in bilateral trade andfinancing transactions and that public and private sectors are free tochoose the Chinese currency for bilateral trade and investment activities.
“We encourage market entities from both countries to use our own currenciesin clearing bilateral trade and investment, we welcome the measures fromthe Pakistani side,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang saidat Thursday’s press conference.
The newspaper said America’s strategic shift towards India could alsoimprove military cooperation between Islamabad and Beijing.
Citing a a report published in US media, the paper said China is in talkswith Pakistan to build an overseas military base as part of a push forgreater maritime capabilities along strategic sea routes.
“Both Beijing and Islamabad have the ability to build a joint naval and airfacility in Pakistan, but it is unnecessary at this time,” as it is abackup plan for the Indo-Pacific strategy of the US and its allies, LinMinwang, a professor at Fudan University’s Center for South Asian Studies,was quoted as having told the Global Times.
He said US and its allies push their Indo-Pacific strategy to the extreme,China will surely carry out a plan with Pakistan to ensure the security ofsea routes.