BEIJING:The internal political change in Islamabad will not affect thesolid friendship between ChinalinkPakistan.
Experts from both China and Pakistan are confident in the future of theChina-Pakistan ties, as they believe the new government will continue touphold the country’s long-standing tradition to make sure the friendshipwith China and all China-Pakistan cooperation projects will be unaffected.
A new government will be formed most likely under opposition leader ShehbazSharif, the younger brother of three-time former prime minister NawazSharif, after parliament reconvenes on Monday to vote for a new primeminister, according to media reports.
Chinese and Pakistani analysts consider that the solid China-Pakistanrelations will not be affected by the internal political change in Pakistanbecause to safeguard and develop the bilateral ties is the joint consensusof all parties and all groups in Pakistan.
The potential successor of Khan is from the Sharif family which has beenpromoting China-Pakistan ties for a long time, and cooperation between thetwo countries, Global Times reported.
The CPEClinkandthe BRI, as well as China-Pakistan cooperation in other fields includingcounterterrorism and fighting coronavirus, are significant for Pakistan toovercome its current challenges. This means China is the most reliable,trustworthy, powerful and irreplaceable partner for the country, saidanalysts.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a routine pressconference last week when asked about the current political situation inPakistan that “China follows the principle of non-interference in othercountries’ internal affairs.
China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners. Historyhas proven time and again that China-Pakistan relations have always beenunbreakable and rock-solid, no matter how the international landscape andtheir respective domestic situations may change.”
Zhao added: “We believe that the overall situation of China-Pakistancooperation and the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridorwill not be affected by the political situation in Pakistan. As Pakistan’siron-clad friend, we sincerely hope that all parties in Pakistan willremain united and work together for national development and stability.”
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The latest political change in Pakistan is mainly caused by political partystruggles and issues with the economy and people’s livelihoods, said QianFeng, director of the research department at the National StrategyInstitute at Tsinghua University.
Qian added that current internal problems in Pakistan have nothing to dowith its solid ties with China, so there will not be a significant impacton China-Pakistan cooperation. Khan is from a newly rising political party– the Pakistan Movement for Justice, and when traditional major politicalparties like the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) or the Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) return to power, China-Pakistan cooperation could be evenbetter because these traditional major parties have much closer and deeperties with China, Qian noted.
When Sharif was regional leader of the eastern province of the Punjab, hestruck many BRI cooperation deals with China directly to improve localinfrastructure and economic development, and his family have maintainedlong-standing ties with China as his brother Nawaz Sharif is a three-timeformer prime minister and the leader who kicked off the CPEC project, saidexperts.
Rana Ali Qaisar Khan, executive member of the Central Standing Committee ofthe National Party of Pakistan and an expert on China-Pakistan relations,told the Global Times that “China is all-weather friend of Pakistan, so nomatter who leads the government they cannot affect relations” with China.
The latest significant defense cooperation announced in February of Chinaexporting advanced J-10C fighter jets to Pakistan has greatly improved thecombat capability of the Pakistan Air Force, said analysts.
“China has solid and friendly ties with all groups in Pakistan, includingthe military and all parties whether they are in or out of office,” LinMinwang, a professor at the Institute of International Studies of FudanUniversity told the Global Times.
China has never acted to interference in other countries’ internal affairs,and the reason why China can have an all-weather strategic cooperativepartnership with Pakistan is that China equally deals with all parties thatcome to power and respect their reasonable demand and stay away from theirinternal affairs, Lin said.