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China's 'Belt and Road' Plan in Pakistan Takes a Military Turn
When President Trump started the new year by suspending billions of dollars of security aid to Pakistan, one theory was that it would scare the Pakistani military into cooperating better with its American allies.
The reality was that Pakistan already had a replacement sponsor lined up.
Just two weeks later, the Pakistani Air Force and Chinese officials were putting the final touches on a secret proposal to expand Pakistan's building of Chinese military jets, weaponry and other hardware. The confidential plan, reviewed by The New York Times, would also deepen the cooperation between China and Pakistan in space, a frontier the Pentagon recently said Beijing was trying to militarize after decades of playing catch-up.
All those military projects were designated as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, a $1 trillion chain of infrastructure development programs stretching across some 70 countries, built and financed by Beijing.
Chinese officials have repeatedly said the Belt and Road is purely an economic project with peaceful intent. But with its plan for Pakistan, China is for the first time explicitly tying a Belt and Road proposal to its military ambitions — and confirming the concerns of a host of nations who suspect the infrastructure initiative is really about helping China project armed might.
Related: China's Xi Jinping Negotiates $46bn Superhighway to Pakistan
China Plans $503 Billion Investment in High-Speed Rail by 2020
Chinese President Xi Jinping Pledges $124 Billion for One Belt, One Road Initiative
Gunmen Attack Chinese Consulate in Pakistan
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Thursday December 27 2018, @11:09PM
So was India. Those were the days when the term 'third world' was being coined by J L Nehru [wikipedia.org] for countries unwilling to participate in cold-war and pick either side. Unfortunately, there was a border dispute between China and India (thanks to the British) and they had a war [wikipedia.org], which didn't really change anything.* There was a border dispute between Pakistan and India too (thank the British for that too, thank you) and Pakistan and China had that one too. Pakistan smartly decided to simply hand-over that land to China because it was populated by non-Muslim population anyway.
Pakistan and China have a thicker relationship than Pakistan and USA, one thickened by supplying nuclear technology. Pakistan is an integral part of China's string of pearl [wikipedia.org] strategy.