Chinese influence

Anew study has concluded that Pakistan is the country most influenced by China. The China Index — a cross-regional project of DoubleThink Lab, a Taiwan-based research organisation — ranks 82 countries as per varying degrees of dependence on Beijing. Pakistan is followed by Cambodia (second) and Singapore (third), while Central Asian nations Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan also figure in the top 10. The index focuses on nine domains to assess China’s sway around the world — academia, domestic politics, economy, foreign policy, military cooperation, law enforcement, media, society and technology.

Cash-strapped Pakistan’s heavy reliance on China for financial support is no secret. According to an IMF report, about 30 per cent of Pakistan’s foreign debt is owed to China. Chinese fiscal assistance is higher than both Pakistan’s IMF debt and the amount given by the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, touted as ‘a framework of regional connectivity’, has witnessed infrastructure projects worth billions of dollars being funded and built by Chinese companies over the past decade. China has been ‘rewarding’ its close ally by repeatedly blocking India-US proposals at the United Nations to proscribe Pakistan-based terrorists.

There’s a lesson here for the US, which is recalibrating its defence and military ties with Pakistan. Calling Pakistan an important counter-terrorism partner, the US had approved a $450-million F-16 fighter jet fleet sustainment programme in September, four years after the then President Trump had suspended about $2 billion in security aid to Islamabad for not taking adequate action against terror groups. Washington is fooling no one by claiming that the F-16 package is not expected to ‘alter the region’s basic military balance’. Instead, the US is playing into China’s hands by bolstering Pakistan’s military prowess vis-à-vis that of India. Beijing wants to keep New Delhi occupied on the western border so that it can have its way along the LAC. America is well advised to avoid expending money, effort and resources on Pakistan, which continues to be held in a vice-like grip by China. India’s objections to its Pak overtures should make the US see reason.

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