Why do China and Pakistan have such a good relationship?

At first sight, it might seem that China and Pakistan enjoy such a good relationship because solely of contingent national interests. That’s true to some extent, but it does not cover the whole picture.

China today is described by some as a superpower and it’s true that with China standing on Pakistan’s side, it would serve as a deterrence against Indian aggression. Plus, China needs Pakistan to open a Western trade route to by pass the South China Sea region where there is heavy American military presence. And Pakistan, with two of its neighbors being an unstable, poor Afghanistan and a hostile India, of course would take such an opportunity for its economy. Hence we have CPEC.

While these are all true, they are not the whole picture. The friendship between China and Pakistan dated back from decades ago. In the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965, China, though not a belligerent, supported Pakistan to counter Soviet influence in South Asia to some extent. Since then, China formed a pro-Pakistan policy, be it the issue of Soviet-Afghan war or the issue of the Pakistani nuclear program.

An important note: in the 1960s and early 1970s, China stood against both the USSR and the US. So Pakistan as a friendly neighbor was at the time a necessary choice. But for Pakistan, China was not a necessary choice. Back then China was poor, even poorer than India and Pakistan, and was not able to provide Pakistan with much material support, either economically or technologically. In fact, China was poorer than Pakistan up to the 1990s, despite being a much larger country. While Pakistan could get US technological and economic support, China could not provide Pakistan with much. Sure, Pakistan benefited from the relation with China even back then, but China was NOT Pakistan’s necessary choice.

In 1989, when most Western countries put on sanctions against China, Pakistan was one of the few countries which voiced support for China in the UN. Again, Pakistan did not need to do so. In 1989, China was largely isolated, economically nascent, not strong enough and technologically backward, and it was not obvious at all China would become what it is today. If Pakistan had been just looking for a friend of convenience, it would not have risked US annoyance to voice support for China. It could have stayed silent, especially since the USSR was already collapsing and the US no longer needed Pakistan’s support in Afghanistan.

China’s economic rise accelerated in the 1990s and was leaping forward only in the 1990s to surpass the economy of India. Pakistan, on the other hand, plunged into a whole decade of chaos and confusion. To make it even worse, because of its 1998 nuclear tests, it faced sanctions from most Western powers. It was at this time that China provided crucial support for Pakistan. Pakistan’s main ally, the US, was not happy that Pakistan moved forward with its nuclear program, trying to buy Pakistan off with some F-16 fighter jets. When that failed, the US imposed sanctions and Pakistan was deprived of its only advanced fighter jet supplier while India was getting Mirage 2000 from France and Sukhois from Russia. This could have put Pakistan in a position of insuperable inferiority in a future conflict with India, as the power of a modern air force was getting more and more manifest.

China, meanwhile, mostly relied on Russian Sukhois and did not have its own 4th generation fighter jets. The EU and the US put on sanctions (which are still in effect today) against China so that China could not get arms from the West.

This is background of the JF-17 thunder program. Both China and Pakistan needed a cheap but capable fighter jet of quality. Later on Pakistan was again able to get F-16s from the US but the JF-17 program was still ongoing. Pakistan’s participation saved China from a lot of expenditure and lowered the price of the plane, which was crucial for China at the time with a small military budget.

When the JF-17 program was completed, China was a lot more stronger and economically and technologically advanced so the program was no longer as crucial as when it was in late 1990s. China already had J-10, J-11 4th generation fighter jets. China could have terminated the program and there was nothing Pakistan could do. Instead, China shared the license with Pakistan and Pakistan itself was able to produce the plane domestically. So Pakistan was able to introduce its domestic 4th generation jet into service a few years before India, and could also export this plane to other countries to make money. This was a huge achievement as not so many countries in the world (basically just the US, Russia, the EU and China) could independently produce its own 4th generation jets.

So you see that the friendly relations between Pakistan and China are not just because of contingent situations and out of convenience. It takes decades for the two countries to build up mutual trust and a deep relationship. Because of this, China, which is much stronger and more advanced today than it was back then, will continue providing Pakistan with economic, industrial, diplomatic and technological support, be it infrastructure (CPEC), advanced warships (Type 054A frigate), advanced fighter jets (JF-17 block 3) or AIP submarines (Type 039/041), all with technology transfer. Our relationships will continue to benefit greatly people of both countries and reinforce regional stability.

Looking back, it’s truly amazing that two countries as ideologically different as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Marxist-Leninist People’s Republic of China successfully sustain such a long term friendly relationship on multiple fronts. It’s because both parties treat each other with respect and not interfere into the internal matters of the other, and have jointly decided to put their ideologically differences aside, no matter which party is in a stronger position at the time. Pakistan has gone through multiple overhauls of its constitution and government, yet our relationships remain sustainable and will continue to do so.