Et tu, China?

Amidst the hullabaloo of the press attention his visit has received, ISI Chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha has reached China on a ‘secret’ mission. This mission, as per tradition, has been the subject of many a sanguine commentary from particular public intellectuals and certain members of the ruling elite. These optimistic primers posit that Pak-China relations will now be established along lines on which Pak-US relations used to be based. It was also said that Pakistan will now establish stronger relations with China as opposed to the US.

After all this commentary, I have a question. After the US’ pressure tactics and its callous attitude, Pakistan is under a compulsion to seek better relations with China but does China have any compelling reason to seek better, stronger relations with Pakistan? China has its own foreign policy and it has its own interests and it keeps those in mind when establishing foreign relations. It also keeps the bilateral context in mind and doesn’t let a third party influence two-way relations. But we talk as if we have the last word on the nature, breadth and depth of relations with China. We keep milking the US for benefits and when it rebuffs us, then we mosey along to Beijing and declare to the Chinese, “Here we are, ready to become your strategic partner. Give us money and give us aid.” And this is how the media tried to present Ahmed Shuja Pasha’s visit.

But what really happened? Before we could declare our friendship with China and push our wishlist in the face of our hosts, they chose to show us the mirror and send out a warning signal by talking about the Xinjiang news. It was reported that terrorists had killed nineteen innocent citizens in the Chinese province. These terrorists were trained in Pakistan and had learnt to make explosives there as well. They were known to adherents of ‘extremist’ and ‘jihadist’ ideologies and these two labels are frequently used for the garden variety Pakistani terrorist.

The Chinese don’t normally disturb their friends and guests. Chinese have been facing terrorist based in Pakistan for a good 25 years now. They have arrested and killed many of them. Not only did it covertly lodge protests after every such episode, it also gave us lists of their names and addresses. This has been going on for a while now. China also provided us the details of the terrorists who kidnapped Chinese citizens and took them to Lal Masjid. They even told us of the locations where these terrorist were being trained. They even know of the terrorists that kill Chinese citizens in episodes of terrorism in Pakistan. But these complaints never surface on the media. They are ready to make such sacrifices at the altar of stronger relations.

In the past, they have never lodged a protest during the official visit of a Pakistani representative. They think that this is against the rules of hospitality. They always complain to Islamabad through diplomatic channels. This is a first that a complaint has surfaced and the news of terrorism came out while the chief of Pakistan’s intelligence agency was visiting. We might not take the hint but the US will be fully cognisant of the hidden message subtly conveyed to us and that our commonplace strategy of “If not you, then China” will not work and has failed as our trump card. Why do we think up of such strategies doomed to failure?

It’s a sorry fact that our governments have badly damaged the integrity and dignity of our country and we can’t forget this fact as it stares us in the face in every aspect of our international dealings. The World Bank doesn’t trust us one bit. Neither does the IMF; we have fudged the books on the aid we received from it. This embezzlement was also caught and we were slapped with a $200 million dollar fine and representatives of IFIs then had to squat in the finance ministry to supervise us and check our finances. The US which once blindly doled out aid to governments doesn’t trust us anymore either. They say that we will oversee the dispensation of humanitarian aid ourselves. Even the lack of aid in the wake of the floods last year can be attributed to the international comity’s lack of trust in us.

China is undoubtedly a matchless friend of ours. When their airspace was closed to international airlines, they allowed PIA to operate over it. And what did we do? We let Americans install spy cameras on our planes. In 1965, China was ready to jump into the fray while we waged a war with India. But what did we do? We turned to bootlicking the US and signed the Tashkent Accord under the Soviet eye. Even in 1971, China was desirous that India not meets its goals in East Pakistan. It advised our government to work things out with the political leadership in East Pakistan so that Indian designs could be defeated. But what did we do again? We still went ahead and invaded East Pakistan and allowed India to have its way with us. We might not have been aggrieved by this but China certainly was.

Terrorists that are attacking China have been receiving training on our homeland for year now. But official Chinese complaints have never reached the media. But after decades of our going crying to China whenever the US gives us a cold shoulder, the Chinese now want us to know that they have had enough and we can’t manipulate them like this. On the one hand, terrorist who kill Chinese citizens receive training on our soil; on the other, we like to use China as a trump card whenever the US snubs us.

China, by showing us the mirror, has tried to tell us that it is our friend, not a trump card to be used as and when required. China has also clearly conveyed to us through this that it is as serious about the demand of Pakistan uprooting terrorist sanctuaries as the US is. Its complaint is not much different from that of the US. We make declarations of friendship on one hand and harbour terrorists that kill its citizens on the other.

As long as we have terrorist sanctuaries on our soil that are used as a launchpad for cross-border terrorism, we will never be able to earn the trust of the international community. Where is the country that will bear its citizens being killed by our home-grown terrorists and also provide us aid on top of that? All foreign countries, including China, will now predicate their aid on the condition that we not merely vow to act against these terrorist havens but decisively act upon that our avowal. If we won’t do anything about, then others will and such arrangements are already being considered. We should be considered well-warned.

The writer is one of Pakistan’s most widely read columnists.