Across Mountains and Seas, Building a Shared Future
Tang Meng sheng
Professor of Peking University, China. Director of the Center for Pakistan Studies, Peking University Seventy-five years of sharing weal and woe, seventy-five years of friendship as strong as steel.
In 2026, as China and Pakistan mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, the peoples of both countries are immersed in the joy of friendship and cooperation. Since the two countries formally established diplomatic ties on May 21, 1951, this friendship, spanning the Himalayas and crossing the Arabian Sea, has remained rock-solid and ever-renewed amid changes in the international landscape. Together, we have traversed an extraordinary journey of three-quarters of a century, witnessing the construction of the Karakoram Highway and the transformation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor from vision to reality; we have seen prompt action in disaster relief operations time and again, and firm mutual support in international affairs. Described as a relationship “higher than the mountains, deeper than the oceans, sweeter than honey, and stronger than steel”, this bilateral bond has gone far beyond ordinary state-to-state relations and stands as a model of enduring friendship, stable cooperation and mutual benefit between countries with different civilizations and social systems.
China and Pakistan have conducted effective cooperation on global governance issues including counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, climate change and public health. Both maintain that international affairs should be decided through consultation by all countries, and oppose all forms of unilateralism and hegemonism. In advancing the global development agenda, especially the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the two sides support each other and jointly call on the international community to increase support for developing countries, so as to build a more just and rational global economic governance system.
At the regional level, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization provides an important platform for deepening security and development cooperation between China and Pakistan. As member states, the two countries work hand in hand to maintain regional peace and stability, combat the “three forces” of terrorism, separatism and extremism, promote regional connectivity and economic integration, understand each other’s legitimate concerns in regional affairs, and maintain close consultations on regional hotspot issues such as those in Afghanistan, jointly contributing wisdom and strength to the long-term stability of South Asia and Central Asia. Such tacit coordination in multilateral fora has effectively amplified the voice of the two countries as responsible major developing nations, upheld international fairness and justice, and fostered a more favorable external environment for their respective national development.
Mutual assistance and solidarity represent the most profound character of China-Pakistan relations and the core feature of their All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership, running through the entire history of diplomatic ties. The Chinese people will never forget that at the beginning of reform and opening up, Pakistan provided China with an air corridor to the outside world. When the 8.0-magnitude Wenchuan earthquake struck Sichuan, China, on May 12, 2008, two Pakistani Air Force C-130 transport aircraft delivered disaster relief materials worth about 1 million U.S. dollars to the quake-hit area on May 16. Later, learning of the urgent need for tents, Pakistan urgently sent all 22,260 tents from its strategic reserves to the disaster area. After the Yushu earthquake in Qinghai in 2010, the Pakistani government urgently dispatched two special planes to deliver urgently needed supplies including 300 tents and 2,000 blankets to the Yushu disaster area in batches.
Likewise, whenever Pakistan suffers major natural disasters, China is always among the first to offer assistance, embodying the responsibility of an “iron-clad brother” through concrete actions. During the catastrophic floods in Pakistan in 2010, the Chinese government provided humanitarian material assistance worth 50 million RMB to Pakistan, and then granted an additional 200 million U.S. dollars in aid, launching all-around land and air relief operations, sending the largest medical rescue team in China’s foreign assistance history, and dispatching large-scale motorcades and helicopters for rescue missions, setting a precedent in China’s foreign aid history. When severe floods hit Pakistan again in September 2022, the Chinese government immediately decided to provide 100 million RMB of emergency relief supplies to Pakistan. As the disaster worsened, China decided to provide an additional 300 million RMB in material assistance. On September 25, the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries hosted a donation event titled “Chinese People for Pakistani Brothers and Sisters” for Pakistan’s flood relief, raising funds and materials worth a total of 125 million RMB. On September 28, China sent the first batch of 3,000 tents and 9,000 blankets to the Pakistani people via two Y-20 transport aircraft, with follow-up materials delivered successively by air and sea. In 2025, when floods hit Pakistan again, China immediately extended a helping hand and provided 2 million U.S. dollars in emergency assistance. To further support Pakistan’s relief and post-disaster reconstruction, the Chinese government decided to provide an additional 100 million RMB in emergency flood relief supplies.
This cooperation is also extensively seen in the regular joint military exercises, which are a key feature of the defence and security ties between the two countries. It reflects the high level of mutual trust and strategic coordination between the armed forces of the two countries. In recent years, the “Warrior” series of bilateral anti-terrorism exercises has emerged as an important mechanism for enhancing operational coordination and interoperability between the Pakistan Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. The latest of these exercise Warrior-IX was held in National Counter Terrorism Center in Pabbi, Pakistan in December 2025 and included mixed-group training and live-force drills focused on joint anti-terrorism operations. Similarly, maritime cooperation between the two countries has also gained momentum through the “Sea Guardian” series of bilateral naval exercises. The 4thiteration of Sea Guardian was launched with the visit of Chinese naval ship Daqing to Karachi in March 2026. It included a wide range of harbour and sea-phase activities besides exchanges and seminars.
Examples of mutual assistance and support between China and Pakistan are numerous. During the evacuation of Chinese nationals from Yemen in 2015, the Chinese Navy first helped 176 Pakistani citizens evacuate safely. At that time, eight Chinese students were stranded at the Port of Mukalla and could not reach Chinese naval vessels.
The commander of the Pakistani naval vessel conducting rescue operations there ordered: the ship will not leave port until the Chinese students are aboard. These resolute words once again proved that China-Pakistan friendship is “as high as the mountains and as deep as the oceans”.
—To be Continue
