Valentin Popescu*

China is in a state of shock after Pakistan declined its request for opening a security company to protect its nationals working in the Islamic Republic from Islamist militants of all hues. Islamabad has not made its objections public but Beijing is not hiding its unhappiness.

Not a dozen or two but hundreds of Chinese are working in Pakistan on a wide range of projects. One project, CPEC, is a multi-billion-dollar venture to lay an economic corridor from Xinjiang in Northwest China to the Balochistan coast in Pakistan. The Chinese workers and engineers have literally no security cover even in Karachi, which is Pakistan’s show piece city as its educational and business hub. 

It is not that Pakistan does not care for the ‘guests’ from the land of its iron friend. It does. It has, in fact, raised a special force to protect the Chinese nationals, almost all of them unarmed civilians.  Many of them are working in inaccessible tribal areas with militant sanctuaries. In urban and semi-urban centres, they face music at the hands of Islamist vigilantes. And from insurgents in Balochistan, who are unhappy with Islamabad and Beijing alike.

It is easy to say that Chinese are courting trouble by their swagger and their attitude, which is aggressive and domineering.

Frankly, you cannot find fault with these ordinary Chinese.

How can you?

They are the 21^st century indentured labourers furthering “China’s ambitious bid to be the hegemon and Hercules of the universe”. They are only basking in the reflex glory of their Yuans, which have made the Pakistani rupees its supplicant. 

So much so they have a bonafide claim for protection.  

The attacks may indicate a concern amongst the locals that the new East India Company is exploiting their resources, and is creating unemployment.  It may be true but this argument does not hide Pakistan’s failure in its sovereign duty of protecting unarmed foreigners, who have crossed the strategic Khunjerab Pass on the southwest border of China to create a better tomorrow for the world’s second-largest Muslim country even as China’s Africa story finds an echo.

Result?

Reading the riot act to Pakistan has become a routine for China.  

And the Chinese confidence in Pakistan’s security system and its ability to protect them and their projects is badly shaken as Senator Mushahid Hussain, Chairman of Pakistan’s Senate Defence Committee has conceded on record recently.

For the uninitiated, the Senator is a journalist turned politician, and author of three books on Pakistan’s Foreign Policy and domestic politics as well as issues of governance.

Whether Pakistani leadership likes to admit or not, there is a sublime anti-China sentiment in the land of the pure as Pakistanis like to describe their country.

It is not as widespread as anti-American psyche, though.

Probably, this dislike bordering on hatred is a manifestation against the Big Brother attitude of the US and China.

The global capitalist yesterday and the Bamboo Capitalist today are the Good Samaritans at their doors.  Yet, the average Pakistani hates them both. Well, that is Pakistan for you!

The provocation for China to propose its own security arrangement in Pakistan was an attack near the University of Karachi’s Confucius Institute on 26 April 2022.  

Three Chinese teachers lost their lives in the ghastly attack carried out by a woman suicide bomber.

“Punish the perpetrators,” Foreign Ministry spokesman thundered in Beijing. And demanded a scale-up of security for the Chinese nationals.   

Shehbaz Sharif, who took over reins of the country at the head of a multiparty coalition, just a fortnight before the Karachi attack, was rattled.

So was the military establishment, which is the real power centre of the country.

Both held out the assurance of stern action against the perpetrators. It did not cut any ice with China, going by the turn of events ending with the request ‘for permission to set up a security company in Pakistan.’

The egg heads in Islamabad, the national capital, and in Rawalpindi, the military headquarters, saw existential threat. A fear engulfed the decision makers that the presence of Chinese security personnel in Pakistan would further embolden China’s ambitions in these days ripe with conspiracy theories.

‘A simple nod might lead to further backlash and prove disastrous’, reasoned some while others said ‘there will be a question mark on the credibility of Pakistan police force’. So, the Interior Minister, Rana Sanaullah conveyed a blunt no to the all-weather friend.

Beijing was unprepared for such a blunt no.     

Pakistan tried to reason with a fuming China.  Not with much success, though. It pointed out, according to reports in public domain, that Islamabad Police have redoubled their efforts to secure the lives of Chinese nationals on a priority basis.

There are more than 1,000 Chinese nationals in Islamabad alone, attached to three dozen of projects, companies, and businesses, according to an official survey on the number of Chinese living in Pakistan. 

All these Islamabadites by accident will be taken care by a separate cell set up with required staff and logistics. Patrolling around the residences, CCTV cameras in the Chinese neighbourhood, and security cover for the Chinese on the move will be its responsibility  

The Special Branch, Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and Security Division will audit the security arrangements for the Chinese periodically. This is in addition to the protection provided exclusively to the Chinese working on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by security forces and paramilitary troops.

The new security drill is impressive and detailed too. But China was not impressed.  It was still fretting and fuming. So, Pakistan Army Chief General Bajwa rushed to Beijing on 09 June to deliver a personal assurance.  A senior-level tri-service military delegation accompanied him on the three-day visit, Geo TV reported.

There is something interesting about this visit, according to a post on the web site, defence.pk, which describes itself as “a one stop resource for Pakistan defence, strategic affairs, security issues, world defence and military affairs”.

“Back in 2019 when General Bajwa visited China, he met Commander of People’s Liberation Army, Gen. Han Weiguo. In May 2020, Gen Bajwa met President Xi during his visit to China. However yesterday (June 12) during his un-announced visit to China, Gen Bajwa met Vice Chairman of Chinese Central Military Commission, General Zhang Youxia instead of meeting Commander of People’s Liberation Army, or meeting the President of China.”  

The   Bajwa - Zhang meeting took place in Qingdao, capital of east China’s Shandong province, a few hours before the Pak General was to begin his return journey.

A telling commentary on the chill in the Sino-Pak relations!

Gen Bajwa contributed no less to the Chinese unhappiness by his remarks a few days before the Karachi attack.

“Pakistan doesn’t follow ‘camp politics,’ he said, while addressing the two-day Islamabad Security Dialogue 2022.

He made another observation – ‘the best weapons are from the US’.  

China was not pleased. And stage was set for an informal downgrade in the bilateral ties.  

More than security issues, it is the slow pace of CPEC project that has made China quite unhappy.

It is a show piece under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).  

President Xi Jinping sees the venture as his manna, firstly for global mileage, and secondly as an opportunity to come to grips with a social problem at home – large work force sitting idle seething with anger under the impact of unemployment.

The CPEC was launched in 2015. Only three projects are completed in Gwadar, the home to the port the Chinese are managing and developing as their energy hub and gateway to the Middle east. Several essential services – some twelve in number, ranging from water supply to electricity have made little progress from the drawing board.  

Pakistan has compounded its misery vis-à-vis China by running into arrears in payments to the Independent Power Producers from the Middle Kingdom. Marking a big low in bilateral relations, the IPPs have threatened to shut down their power plants.

For Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, this is a bitter legacy when he is grappling with what appears as doom on the economic front. In the past four months, he has worked overtime to buy peace with the Chinese IPPs. And also please the Bamboo capitalist.

After testing his nerves, Beijing released in end June USD 2.5 billion to build Pakistan’s depleting forex reserves.

This does indicate some softening but doesn’t guarantee return to bonhomie of old times! (POREG)

——* London- -based Popescu is a basketball player by training, musician by temperament, part-time teacher by choice and a blogger with interest in South Asian because of childhood memories.