Does Imran Khan’s Fall Affect the Strong Relations Between Pakistan and China?

The fall of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on April 10, 2022, from his post after withdrawing the confidence of Parliament from him, had a global resonance, especially in the Central Asian region, which is one of China's areas of influence, and one of the world's conflicting hot spots internationally.

During his reign, Khan had distinguished relations with China, one of his most important allies and one of the main pillars on which he relied in his foreign policy, which was characterized by sharp and fundamental differences with the United States and the West.

Most importantly, Khan's rule was an important and developed extension of the old relations between Beijing and Islamabad, which began with the establishment of the Pakistani Republic in 1947, and the Pakistani regime's recognition of the People's Republic of China in 1950, as one of the first world regimes to do so.

Today, with the regional turmoil and the cold conflict between China and the United States in the Asian depth, Pakistan's role comes as a feature of the conflict, especially in light of the internal crises it is witnessing.

 

Intelligence Cooperation

Intelligence cooperation is one of the well-established rules in the structure of Pakistani-Chinese relations, as evidenced by what was published by the French magazine, Intelligence Online, which specializes in intelligence affairs, on April 14, 2022.

“The Chinese Ministry of State Security invited the Pakistani intelligence services to cooperate with the Taliban intelligence due to its concern about the security situation in Afghanistan,” it reported.

“China has contacted the Taliban in order to secure its interests, with the help of Pakistani intelligence experts,” it added.

“A large delegation from the Chinese Ministry of State Security held an unprecedented series of meetings with senior officials of the Taliban intelligence service in Kabul, between March 20 and 23, 2022, to facilitate these discussions between the Chinese intelligence and the new leaders in Kabul, the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was specially summoned to attend these important meetings,” it said.

“The unprecedented agreement came in light of China's fear of an extension of 76 km from the common border with Afghanistan, which might allow members of the Turkistan Islamic Party to cross into its territory,” the French magazine reported.

The Chinese Ministry of State Security accused this group of orchestrating attacks in China and against Chinese nationals and interests in Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Despite the unrest in Pakistan following the overthrow of China's ally Imran Khan, Beijing places the Central Asian security file at the center of its thinking. Therefore, relations with Islamabad cannot be allowed to deteriorate under any circumstances.

This is reinforced by the fact that China is concerned that chaos may spread throughout the broader region, which could threaten the Belt and Road Initiative, which must pass through the highly sensitive Wakhan corridor in Badakhshan province in northeastern Afghanistan.

China also hopes to extract lithium and copper later in Afghanistan, but it has excluded these mines from its projects at the present time due to the security situation.

With fear in the first place due to the lack of guarantees provided by the Pakistani intelligence agency, which still has the upper hand in the developments of the Afghan scene, according to what was reported by Intelligence Online.

 

Imran Khan's Role

Since the beginning of his prime ministry on August 18, 2018, Imran Khan has adopted a strategy of neutrality, rather than absolute subordination and full alliance with the United States.

He quickly strengthened his relations with major international powers, and signed the largest arms deal with Russia, worth $9 billion in 2019.

Imran Khan preceded it in 2018 by signing historic arms deals worth $6.4 billion with China.

But the most dangerous point was his government's approval of the Chinese Silk Road project, which Washington considered a severe blow to its attempts to besiege Beijing.

The US response came quickly in August 2019, when Washington instructed India to abolish the constitutional autonomy of the Pakistani state of Jammu and Kashmir it occupies.

Later, New Delhi worked to change the identity of the state through the forced displacement of the population and the stripping of national identity from them, and the destruction of their Islamic places of worship, as punishment for Khan for his orientations towards China.

The Sunday Telegraph reported on January 20, 2019, that “Pakistan is at the center of China's plan to revive the ancient Silk Road through the initiative known as the Road and the Belt, which includes building railways and ports.”

China promised to invest $46 billion in Pakistan, a plan that continues today, despite Khan's ouster.

 

The Importance of Pakistan

On June 7, 2021, the diplomat and researcher specializing in Pakistani affairs, Arif Kamel, wrote a research paper for the Al-Jazeera Center for Studies on the nature and dimensions of Pakistani-Chinese relations, their features and developments.

In it, he said: “The Pakistani-Chinese relation is generally described as a friendship that is appropriate for all circumstances, with it usually followed by other frequent expressions such as: deeper than the oceans, and longer than the Himalayas.”

“The strategic relation is based on mutual respect for the vital interests of the two sides. China's consistent support for Pakistan's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity is a consistent policy, likewise, Islamabad strictly adheres to the unified Beijing policy and opposes any separatist tendencies, whether related to Tibet or Xinjiang,” he said.

This may explain Imran Khan's statements in January 2019, that he does not know anything about what Muslims are exposed to in the Chinese province of Xinjiang, and has no idea about the mass prisons in which the authorities in the region have detained hundreds of thousands of Uyghur Muslims.

He added at the time that even if the matter was as it was being circulated, he would not openly criticize the Chinese authorities, but would raise it in his private conversations with officials because the Chinese are working like this, according to his statements.

Arif Kamel stated in his research that “the development of the friendship equation that suits all circumstances between Pakistan and China is a realization and reflection of Islamabad's geographical and political position at the crossroads between regions: Central Asia, South Asia and West Asia.”

In more specific terms, the benefits of this development lie in two aspects, as it is a fortress that prevents the encirclement of China, and it is a bridge for Beijing's commercial communication with the Arabian Sea, according to him.

On May 21, 2021, Pakistani President Arif Alvi said that “the relations between Pakistan and China have been developing strongly since the establishment of diplomatic relations between them in 1951, and it has become an example for other countries in the world to follow.”

He said, “Higher than mountains, deeper than oceans, sweeter than honey,” it is the phrase frequently used in Pakistan to describe the all-weather friendship between the two countries for the past 70 years.

 

Cooperation Map

Hence, the Pakistani–Chinese relations are based on the main pillars and a clear map of cooperation carefully drawn and defined.

It is the map that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke about on March 23, 2022, during a joint press conference with then Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

The Chinese minister identified four areas for strengthening relations between China and Pakistan, noting that the first point is to support each other strongly, regardless of changes that occur in the international situation and in their countries.

He made this point, saying, “China will stick to its friendly policy toward Pakistan, firmly support the Pakistani people to take a development path that suits their national conditions, and Beijing will support Islamabad in defending its sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.”

The second point is that “China and Pakistan should enhance the complementarity of their development strategies and build the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor with high quality, and remain committed to promoting major cooperation projects and expanding cooperation in green development, digitalization and poverty reduction.”

The third is that “China supports Pakistan in severely punishing the perpetrators of the Dassault terrorist attack, and appreciates its efforts to enhance the security of Chinese personnel and projects in Islamabad.”

The aforementioned attack took place on July 14, 2021, targeted a bus carrying workers in the Dasu Dam construction project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa state, and in which 13 people were killed, including 10 Chinese.

The fourth, according to the Chinese foreign minister, is to “strengthen coordination on international and regional issues such as Afghanistan and Ukraine, jointly practice true pluralism, earnestly protect the basic norms governing international relations, and oppose power politics, bullying and unilateral sanctions.”

It is the policy that Beijing has been keen to adhere to towards its neighbor, despite all the changes that occur.

On April 11, 2022, one day after the overthrow of Imran Khan, China announced, through the spokesperson of its Foreign Ministry, that it would maintain the policy of friendly relations with Pakistan no matter how the political situation in it changed.