NEW DELHI: Pakistan and China are expanding their military to military cooperation and defence production, which is making India uneasy, according to Indian media reports.
The Economic Times reported: “In what will come as bad news for India, 'all-weather friends' China and Pakistan are set to not just increase weapons exchanges, the former is also expected to 'authorise' the latter to produce ballistic, cruise, anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, and battle tanks, China's state-run media reported late yesterday”.
Quoting Global Times, the ET said ‘the weapons exchanges include the mass production of FC-1 Xiaolong, a lightweight and multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by the two countries. The two sides also agreed to strengthen anti-terrorism cooperation and strike terrorist forces including China's insurgent East Turkestan Islamic Movement, it added.
Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Bajwa is on a visit to China during which talks were held with a top Chinese military official, Fang Fenghui to boost defence production.
"Pakistan and China enjoy a special friendly relationship with each other and have a common destiny," Bajwa reportedly said at the meeting, according to a statement on the website of China's defence ministry.
Pakistan has deployed more than 15,000 troops to protect CPEC and the country's navy has raised a security contingent to protect the Gwadar Port, said Masood Khalid, Pakistan's Ambassador to China, at a news conference on Tuesday, according to Global Times. The Port is a key CPEC project.
"As Pakistan faces frequent threats from terrorist forces such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, military support is necessary to ensure a safe environment for the regions where there is huge investment from China", said Song Zhongping, a military expert who has served in the Chinese army, to Global Times.