Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted from office in ano-confidence vote in the country’s parliament on Sunday, but such a majorpolitical upheaval in Islamabad will not affect the solid friendshipbetween China and Pakistan. Experts from both China and Pakistan areconfident in the future of the China-Pakistan ties, as they believe the newgovernment will continue to uphold the country’s long-standing tradition tomake sure the friendship with China and all China-Pakistan cooperationprojects 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 Khanis from the Sharif family which has been promoting China-Pakistan ties fora long time, and cooperation between the two countries could be even betterthan under Khan.
Although the US has always attempted to instigate or make trouble forChina-Pakistan ties, especially targeting the China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC) project and the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative(BRI), China does not need to be worried, experts noted.
Current internal political struggles in Pakistan were caused by economicproblems mainly brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, while the CPEC and theBRI, 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 on Wednesday 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 strategiccooperative partners. History has proven time and again that China-Pakistanrelations have always been unbreakable and rock-solid, no matter how theinternational landscape and their respective domestic situations maychange.”
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 due to the impact fromthe COVID-19 pandemic, many people in the country believe that Khan’sadministration has failed to stop the economic situation from worsening,
In general, current internal problems in Pakistan have nothing to do withits solid ties with China, so there will not be a significant impact onChina-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.
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