Chinas Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has just completed a three-day visit to our country as yet another high water-mark in Pakistan-China relations. A large number of agreements and MoUs signed during this visit will no doubt further reinforce and expand the multi-dimensional cooperation between the two countries reflecting a continuously upward momentum in their relationship which has over the years grown in its dimension and scope.
The depth of this exemplary relationship, however, cannot be measured just by the frequency and number of visits exchanged between the two countries or how many bilateral agreements and MoUs are signed on these occasions. Nor can there be any monetary value attributed to this friendship. The unmatched special feature of this relationship is the mutual trust and confidence based on convergence of strategic interests that the two countries have built over the decades as an asset of their friendship.
Another special feature of Pakistan-China friendship is that it is not based on transient interests or expediencies, and is above personalities or any changes in domestic or international situation. It is a long-term partnership for peace, stability and prosperity at the bilateral, regional and international levels. No other relationship is based on such solid foundations. A strong strategic dimension of their partnership not only serves their mutual interest but also ensures stability and security in their region.
This is a friendship embedded in the hearts and minds of their peoples and spans almost the entire period of their independent statehood. Based on common interests, this relationship has withstood all tests of time and remains immune to any adverse impact of readjustments and realignments necessitated by changing regional and global geo-strategic dynamics.
Friends in need are friends indeed. Both countries have supported each other in their just causes, which for Pakistan includes a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue and preservation of its independence and territorial integrity, and for China, the issues of Taiwan, human rights, Tibet and Xinjiang. At the UN, the two countries have been working together on many issues of common interest, including the question of UN reform. There is also a common position on the question of enlargement of the UN Security Council. On Kashmir, Chinas position is well-known and needs no reiteration.
China has contributed significantly to Pakistans security and economic development. A tradition of regular high-level exchanges and regular governmental contacts helps them keep their relationship strong with ever-growing cooperation in all areas of mutual interest, including the fields of economy, trade, investment, science and technology, energy, communication infrastructure, education, defence and security. We now have more than two hundred agreements providing a comprehensive framework for cooperation in these areas.
Although there have been countless but unproductive visits by our ruling Marco Polos to China, the tradition of high-level Chinese visits to Pakistan has been correctly restricted to as and when necessary for mutual benefit. Their visits are always need-based and result-oriented. In 2006, we had a Chinese presidential visit to Pakistan after ten years, whereas Premier Wen Jiabaos recent visit was his second in five years. The number of agreements signed during these three visits and their economic and strategic dimensions represent the crux of our ongoing cooperation including joint-venture collaboration.
Economic cooperation is indeed the bedrock of this multidimensional relationship. From Karakoram Highway reviving and revitalizing the old silk-route to the newly completed Gwadar port a whole string of industrial plants, factories, electrical and mechanical complexes, power producing units including hydro and nuclear power plants stand testimony to Pakistan-China cooperation and Chinas vital contribution to the economic development of our country.
In 2003, during a visit to China by President Musharraf, the two countries had signed a joint declaration on directions of bilateral cooperation. A framework agreement signed during that visit had given a boost to their traditional defence cooperation which is an important factor in the modernisation of Pakistans armed forces.
Another significant area of ongoing cooperation between Pakistan and China has been the harnessing of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes under international safeguards for the production of electricity. In addition to Chashma-I and II power plants, both sides have agreed to work on at least six new nuclear power plants in the coming decades.
Both countries are also exploring the feasibility of constructing an oil pipeline from the port of Gwadar up to Western China shortening the distance and time for oil transportation from the Persian Gulf to China. To facilitate its oil imports from this region, China might also set up a mega-refinery at Gwadar. One must, however, admit that any regional overlap will remain captive to the geopolitics of the region. With Afghanistan still in turmoil and India-Pakistan peace as elusive as ever, there is no prospect of an early breakthrough towards meaningful economic integration in this part of Asia.
What the people of Pakistan admire most about this relationship is that unlike the conditionality-based aid programs from other countries, everything that China has done or is doing in this country is people-specific and meant only for their benefit. It has never been ruler-specific. The Chinese help has always been selflessly unconditioned involving sacrifices in terms of many Chinese lives.
Even today, thousands of Chinese engineers and workers are engaged under most difficult conditions in building roads, bridges, tunnels, dams, schools, universities and hospitals for the people of Pakistan. The Chinese Premier during his recent visit has also reiterated Chinas continued support for Pakistans efforts in safeguarding its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and promoting peace and stability in South Asia.
This assurance is a source of strength for Pakistan but in no case absolves our Marco Polo rulers of their own responsibilities for our countrys sovereign independence which they are so callously squandering for their own self-serving interests. They should be looking at their own besmeared faces in the mirror provided by the recent WikiLeaks. They should wake up to the domestic and external challenges that we are now facing.
The world around us is changing rapidly. Inter-state relations are experiencing new equations. The new India-US nexus involving a long-term strategic, military and nuclear alliance is not without serious far-reaching implications for the delicate balance of power and stability in the region. Both China and Pakistan will have to withstand the winds of change with maturity and self-confidence and in keeping with the soul and spirit of their relationship. No doubt, significant global changes in the direction of international politics have proved the permanence of Sino-Pak friendship.
The writer is a former foreign secretary.
