Things are only getting worse for Pakistan; during his meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the historic Uzbek city of Samarkand (September 16) President Xi Jinping called on Pakistan to provide “solid protection” for hundreds of Chinese working on the CPEC projects in the country and build stronger synergy between the development of strategies of the all-weather allies. “China hopes that Pakistan will provide solid protection for the security of Chinese citizens and institutions in Pakistan as well as the lawful rights and interests of Chinese businesses,” Xi told Sharif, airing Beijing’s concern over recurring terror attacks on the Chinese workers , on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation (SCO).  Coming from President Xi himself, words such as “solid protection” and “the lawful rights and interests of Chinese businesses,” should more than alarm Pakistan’s ruling elites. Long-standing dispute over electricity tariffs , particularly since 2020 and the lingering issue of delayed payments to all the Chinese power companies, have now found expression in public at the highest level. Pakistan owes nearly Rs.400 billion to the Chinese power companies. The issue had only partially been resolved when ex PM Imran Khan visited Beijing to participate in the Winter Olympics early February. PM Sharif – as usual – showered praise on Xi’s leadership,  calling him a “leader of strategic foresight”  whom Pakistani people hold in  high esteem. But meanwhile such rhetorical expressions mean little in an increasingly complex and volatile world. Little do Pakistani leaders realise that the relationship has been under strain for months, particularly since the opposition launced the vote of no-confidence against Imran Khan. Circular debt has been a lingering issue but most serious concern related to the perception that the PDM government came into under the US influence. The continued political  uncertainty and instability has only aggravated the Chinese concern about the...

Lately, there has been a consensus within and outside the country that China is returning to its isolationist days. What has sparked this sentiment can be attributed to various factors. Firstly, an article recently published by a Chinese historian titled A Fresh Look at the Isolationist Policy in the Ming and Qing dynasties, has been read with some interest by the local population and started a debate within. The article argues that China`s feudal rulers from the 16th to 19th centuries, did not pursue a policy of complete isolation, as is widely believed, but one of self-restriction, designed to protect the Chinese national interests and sovereignty and ward off Western invasion and colonization. The article has raised eyebrows within the international community and questions whether such sentiments, as expressed in the article, will sway China away from its existing open-door policy to the West. It was their late leader Deng Xiaoping, who almost 40 years ago, realized that China needs to adopt an open-door policy to the world for it to become a modern and prosperous nation. He is widely considered the founding father of modern China as his vision helped China become the advanced country it is today, with the second largest economy in the world. No small achievement by any standards. Secondly, to compound the worries of the international community, China`s zero-Covid policy, although seen as essential, is hurting its population. The country is amidst an economic slump, mainly due to growing fatigue over Covid and a recent heatwave that has caused drought and slowed the economy. In certain regions, including within the Uighur population, there is growing unrest amongst the people over the shortage of food items and their anger over strict isolation rules imposed by the government. Additionally, there is an increased resentment and accusations that the government has failed in its Covid-free policy. The psychological impact of isolation is destroying the general...

In its 21 years since inception, the alliance seeks to promote regional peace and security cooperation within its member states and primarily reject world hegemony by the Western superpowers. It has become increasingly clear to developing countries, including the SCO member states, that reliance on the West for equality and fair play in trade can no more be guaranteed and an alternate trading/security bloc is the need of the hour. The annual meeting of the Council of the Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was recently held in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, from Sept 15-16, hosted by the current SCO Chair, the President of Uzbekistan. The bloc of countries includes Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, India, and other Central Asian states and is led by the Russian and Chinese Presidents. As an indication of its importance and legitimacy, other countries such as Belarus, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait, Maldives, and Myanmar have lined up and applied for membership, poised to further expand the alliance, and enhance its sphere of influence. In the meeting, key topics such as the war in Ukraine and China’s increasing tension with the West were discussed. In a world of multipolar changes and fluid dynamics, there has been a consensus amongst Asian countries to forge an alternative to the Western-dominated world trade. Led by Russia and China, the bloc aims to rely more on its region for trade and security, slowly shedding its dependency on the West. In its 21 years since inception, the alliance seeks to promote regional peace and security cooperation within its member states and primarily reject world hegemony by the Western superpowers. One may understand that because of the unilateral steps taken by the West towards countries it deems unfriendly, such as the imposition of hard-hitting sanctions, which are sometimes unjustified, it was a matter of time for blocs such as the SCO to be formed. Dominated by Russia and China, it has become increasingly clear to...

Pakistan must re-evaluate its strategies and investments on all counter-terrorism operations as they have become highly questionable after the resurgence of the Taliban in parts of the country A large-scale military operation Zarb-e-Azb was called off in 2017 once the army’s top brass found results of the operation satisfactory enough for its discontinuation eight years after it was launched. Nearly 3,500 militants were reported dead while twice of them had fled across the country for two reasons – find shelter and join Afghan Taliban to provide strategic support in their pursuit to take over the country as the US had already started talking of withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan in 2014. The Zarb-e-Azb operation undoubtedly turned out to be a blessing for the Afghan Taliban whose strength multiplied by several thousand militants once these Pakistani militants joined them. Pakistan also benefited from Zarb-e-Azb operation as it brought down militancy from 7,300 fatalities in 2014 to 601 in 2020. To consolidate the gains of the Zarb-e-Azb operation and purging the country from the remnants of the militants, Pakistan took two major steps – launching of the Radd-ul-Fasad operation and fencing its porous border with Afghanistan to avert the cross-border attacks by the Afghanistan-based Pakistani militant groups, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) the most prominent among them. As normalcy began to return to Pakistan, the situation in Afghanistan took a new turn soon after a peace agreement between the US and Afghan Taliban was signed on February 29, 2020, that laid out a plan for the withdrawal of the US combat forces by May 1, 2021 which was later extended to August the same year. Soon after the withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan, the Afghan Taliban stormed the capital of the country, compelling the sitting President Ashraf Ghani to flee away. The first thing the Afghan Taliban did after coming into power was to release all those prisoners that were...

A large number of Asian countries are out on a shopping spree for acquisition of weapons and equipment than the countries from any other continents across the globe. The USA and leading Western countries, on the other hand, face an unprecedented challenge to their global predominance from the growing Chinese-Russian alliance. An arms race is gaining momentum all around the world and Asia appears to be in lead in many respects. The drivers for this shopping spree vary from global impact of the Ukrainian War to the strained relationships between countries. These two factors are forcing countries to go beyond their means to buy arms and ammunitions so that they can confront any untoward situation that may arise at any time.  The database on global military expenditures maintained by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reveals that two Asian countries, China and India, were the top second and third countries in arms purchases during 2021. Of the 10 top countries in military expenditures, 5 are from Asia, one from America, and the remaining 4 are from Europe.  What it reflects is that a larger number of Asian countries are out on the shopping spree for military weapons and equipment than the countries from any other continents of the world (Table 01). Arms purchases by top 10 countries For some reasons, the Asian countries also appear to be on top of all other countries when we compare the value of military expenditures with the GDP of their countries. Except Saudi Arabia all other countries from top ten in military expenditures disappear from this list. Six out of 10 top countries spending highest percentage of their GDPs on arms purchases are from the Middle East Asia and two each from Africa and East Europe. Pakistan holds 13th position after Russia and Greece (Table 02). Military expenditure on arms by top 10 countries Among the South Asian countries, Pakistan is on top in terms of its military expenditures as the percentage of its GDP....