That
China
and
Pakistan
enjoy the best of relation is well known and beyond doubt. What is interesting is that both the countries belong to two different civilizations, culture and indeed two different worlds. Ideology and religion were never obstacles to their friendship. Yet all is not well in the Sino-Pak camaraderie and during the Kargil crisis last year,
Pakistan
was not too happy about the Chinese neutrality on the issue. In fact, the then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif cut short his trip to Beijing in view of the latter’s ‘neutral’ stand during the conflict. Later, in
Pakistan
, General Parvez Musharraf, the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) and the 'man behind the Kargil' staged his October coup overthrowing the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Musharraf’s coup was not appreciated by the western countries, although it did receive some domestic support. Since then, General Musharraf has been on a shopping around to win domestic support and legitimize his rule at home. In this context, he visited countries of the Islamic world such as
Iran
,
Saudi Arabia
and the
United Arab Emirates
. His visit to
China
, the first outside the Islamic world, must be seen in this context. Apart from soliciting Chinese support for his rule, Musharraf also reaffirm
Pakistan
’s close and cordial ties with
China
. To that extent, his visit was successful. The Pakistani military ruler has been able to win unconditional diplomatic and political backing from the Chinese leadership. Anyone aware of the basic tenets of Chinese foreign policy would have anticipated such an outcome.
The Chinese regulate their foreign policy under the five principles of peaceful coexistence (Panchsheel); one of its principles involves ‘non-interference’ in the internal affairs of other countries. In the Mao Ze dong,
China
indulged in activities which amounted to interference in the internal affairs of many countries such as
Vietnam
,
India
and
Indonesia
, but the post-Mao leadership has strictly adhered to the policy of non-interference. It is for this reason that
China
refused to pass any strictures against the new rulers of
Pakistan
, or issue any appeal for fair trial of Nawaz Sharif in the aftermath of the coup. Indeed, Musharraf’s visit to
China
has once more enabled
Beijing
to underscore its policy of non-interference. All the three top leaders of
China
assured General Musharraf that his October coup was an internal matter of
Pakistan
, which should not affect the Sino-Pak. ties.
Although
China
pledged a comprehensive partnership with the Musharraf regime and make new efforts to consolidate and advance Sino-Pakistani relations, Chinese perceptions of
Pakistan
seems to be is in a stage of transformation. It has started perceiving
Pakistan
as a global exporter of hard-core fundamentalists. Although China has not spoken publicly against Pakistan so as not to embarrass the latter, it has made it clear that it would not like to be a victim of fundamentalism in the Muslim-majority areas of Xinjiang, which some Pakistanis had infiltrated in recent times. In fact,
China
had protested to
Pakistan
in February 1999 against maintaining terrorist training camps in its territory, an allegation denied by
Pakistan
. Also,
China
has observed with concern the rising secessionist tendencies in
Dagestan
and
Chechnya
regions of the
Russian Federation
. These are Muslim dominated areas and the secessionist guerrillas have close links with the Taliban regime in
Afghanistan
and
Pakistan
.
More recently, the Chinese have also seen the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight from
Nepal
in December 1999, and taken note of
India
’s assertion that it was masterminded by
Pakistan
. No mention was made of these matters in the Chinese media during Musharraf’s visit but they must be aware of the inherent dangers of this prolonged silence. Perhaps
Beijing
sees these things as ‘minor’ hitches, which could be overcome by engaging
Pakistan
. General Musharraf must be happy after his visit, as the Chinese have assured him full cooperation in political, economic, scientific and other fields. It remains to be seen if he can strengthen the cooperative trends in Sino-Pak relations in the days to come.
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