The China visit constitutional survival
Khalid Saleem
Email: binwakeel@yahoo.com
The Joint Statement issued at the end of the visit of the President
China was a fitting testimony to the strength and resilience of the
historic ties between Pakistan and China. Not that the historic ties
between Pakistan and China was in need of a fresh testimony.
Nevertheless it is never inopportune to keep repeating a good thing.
Among other things, the Joint Statement reiterated the complete
satisfaction of the two sides on the development of comprehensive
cooperation in all fields. It also expressed agreement to further
enhance their ties in economy, trade, science and technology, culture
and people-to-people relations. This is all to the good.
On its part, China expressed its full support to the efforts of Pakistan
to promote its socio-economic development and expressed its full
readiness to assist Pakistan for development of energy, mineral and
mining sectors as well as to extend support for projects under the
Pakistan-China Joint Five-Year Economic and Trade Cooperation Plan.
Happily, the two sides also agreed to work together to achieve the trade
target of US$15 billion as early as possible.
Pakistan reiterated its full support to the ‘One China’ policy and the
return of Taiwan to its motherland. Pakistan also agreed with China to
condemn and reject the “three evil forces i.e. secessionism, separatism
and terrorism”. Needless to repeat, Pakistan has always been a strong
and unequivocal supporter of Beijing’s ‘One China’ policy. This resolute
support has elicited appreciation from Beijing.
Before returning to the issues agreed to in the Joint Statement, mention
must be made of the rather interesting development in the wake of
Pakistan’s apparent off the cuff offer to make China a partner in the
Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. It appears likely that this
proposal was made without having done the necessary homework. In
particular, no thought appears to have been given to the enormous
difficulties involved in contemplating such a hazardous undertaking.
Nor, apparently, was any preliminary consultation carried out with the
other parties involved. Nonetheless the Chinese took it with their usual
aplomb. According to initial indications from Chinese diplomatic
circles, the government of China may decide to give ‘consideration’ to
joining the 7.5 billion dollar Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project
after the offer made by the Pakistan President.
It was made clear, however, that it was still a bit early to reach a
definite conclusion about this subject and a lot would depend on the
interest shown by the new political leadership in Pakistan. If the
Chinese leadership gets a strong signal that the new government is
interested in Beijing’s partnership, it could launch fresh efforts to
further explore the viability of the project which could subsequently
lead to a joint survey of the area. The first step would be to conduct a
joint feasibility study of the proposed project by technical experts
from both sides. The aforementioned reaction points to the
circumspection that is characteristic of the Chinese when dealing with
issues of some consequence. They have rightly assessed that the
Pakistani proposal had not gone through the dragnet of the experts of
the new government and, therefore, should not be responded to in a hurry
till such time as a formal approach is made in due course of time. It is
to be hoped that the experts of the new government in Islamabad would go
into this and other similar proposals with a fine-toothed comb before
going public in the manner that this was done.
On the bilateral side, the two countries signed ten Memoranda of
Understanding in various sectors. Such memoranda of Understanding on
diverse issues help to lay the foundation of further progress in
cooperation between the ministries and organizations of the two
countries. The Memoranda of Understanding signed during the recent visit
covered cooperation in such fields as Water and Power, Science and
Technology, Finance, Sports and Culture, among others. Others related to
development of good relations between the Chinese Autonomous region of
Xinjiang and the neighbouring regions of Pakistan. The emollient effect
of the MOUs aside, the government would be well advised to go about this
exercise with a certain bit of circumspection. Overloading this exercise
can only result in loss of mutual trust and confidence.
The visit to China has come at a somewhat interesting and in some ways a
critical juncture for China. China’s ambitious plans to hold a
successful Olympic Games 2008 appear to have run into choppy waters.
This is mainly due to the questionable efforts of the shady lobby that
is out to damage the international image of China. The Chinese region of
Tibet has been the subject of serious riots that appear to have been
instigated by interested external elements to coincide with the holding
of the Olympic Games, mainly with the objective of sabotaging the smooth
holding of the Games and thereby embarrassing the Beijing regime.
Pakistan’s expression of moral support and encouragement for China’s
efforts to hold successful Olympic Games 2008 is a natural reaction from
a friend. Pakistan wishes China well and hopes and prays that the
Beijing Olympic Games 2008 will turn out to be most successful and will
help raise China’s image in the world of sport.
Pakistan’s relations with China have been both historic as well as
exemplary. It has not been all easy sailing, though. Yet, the ties
between the two neighbouring countries have set a high water mark in how
a course of friendship and cooperation can be successfully charted
through heavy seas and choppy waters. Pakistan and China have set a
perfect example of how a relationship is nurtured for the mutual
interest and how extraneous and irrelevant factors are set aside in
order for a mutually advantageous friendship to flower and fructify.
Coming to the subject of the visit, the opportunity it provided of first
contact at high level between the Chinese leadership and ministers of
the newly elected government of Pakistan is a welcome development. It is
to be hoped that the spirit of friendship and cooperation between
Pakistan and China will continue to flourish and the contacts with the
new government in Islamabad will be smooth and friendly as always.
Pakistan will welcome visits by Chinese friends in due course so that
the transition of the institutional relations can take place without any
hiccups. |
