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May 19, 2013
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 China Profits From U.S.-Pakistan ShipwreckPosted on Dec 2, 2011
By Barry Lando The killing of 24 Pakistani troops by NATO forces last Saturday is just the latest disastrous chapter in U.S.- Pakistan relations. As affairs go from bad to catastrophic, it’s not just the Taliban who will benefit but also China. For several years now the Pakistanis have found China a very willing and increasingly powerful counterweight to the Americans and their often strident political demands. Toeing Washington’s line, in other words, is no longer the only option. And the pragmatic Chinese, as always, seem willing to work with whoever holds power. Every crisis in American-Pakistani relations is a golden opportunity for China. Take, for instance, the outrage in both the U.S. and Pakistan after American troops secretly entered Pakistan on May 2 to kill Osama bin Laden. The day after the killing, as American officials in Washington intimated that top duplicitous Pakistani military had been harboring the al-Qaida leader, and fulminating U.S. congressmen were demanding immediate cuts in aid, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Beijing leapt to Pakistan’s defense. He declared that “the Pakistani government is firm in resolve and strong in action when it comes to counterterrorism—and has made important contributions to the international counterterrorism efforts.” America should respect Pakistan’s sovereignty, the Chinese said. Advertisement During that trip, China’s premier proved his friendship by announcing that China would, without charge, supply Pakistan with 50 JF-17 fighter jets equipped with sophisticated avionics. Pakistan’s nuclear program provides another example of China’s opportunism. The U.S., very upset by Pakistan’s clandestine development of nuclear weapons, had been looking at Pakistan’s program with a baleful eye. Not the Chinese, who raised hackles in Washington when they sold the Pakistanis two new nuclear reactors, supposedly to be used only for civilian purposes. The deal, the Chinese insisted, was peaceful. (The Pakistanis are quick to point out that the U.S. has been much more willing to forgive archrival India for also developing nukes.) In fact, for years now China has been the major supplier of military hardware to Pakistan. The two countries also have arms manufacturing co-production deals and carry out joint military exercises. But Pakistan and China’s close relationship extends beyond weaponry. While the U.S. has spent billions on military bases in the Persian Gulf, the Chinese have been funding a sophisticated deep-water commercial port in Gwadar, Pakistan, near the Persian Gulf. Just as important, they’re also rehabilitating a 1,300-kilometer-long highway to connect Gwadar to China through Pakistan. You may never have heard of Gwadar, but you will in the future. “Come back in a decade and this place will look like Dubai,” a developer recently said. Trade between China and Pakistan has soared from $2 billion in 2002 to $7 billion in 2009. After a flurry of new agreements, the two countries are hoping to hit $18 billion by 2015. Those agreements target everything from agriculture to heavy machinery, to space and upper atmosphere research, alternative energy projects, power plants and urban security. The Chinese are also aiming to increase investment in Pakistan from the present $2 billion a year to more than $3 billion a year by 2012. That’s double the annual $1.5 billion in economic assistance from the United States that supposedly has kept the Pakistani military in line all these years. Indeed, since Sept. 11, 2001, the United States has provided Pakistan with some $20 billion in aid, mostly military—in effect payoffs for Pakistan’s cooperation in fighting terrorism. But that aid has done little to prevent the disastrous decline in relations between the two countries. China and Pakistan have more interests in common than do America and Pakistan. Looking to the future, powerful elements in Pakistan’s military have long viewed America’s enemies in Afghanistan, the Taliban, as valuable allies against India when America inevitably pulls out of the war. China, like Pakistan, also regards India as a regional rival to be harassed and thwarted. By working together, China and Pakistan will be able to challenge not just India, but also the United States and its claims to hegemony in the area. This goal has grown more pressing since President Obama announced that 2,500 U.S. Marines would be stationed in Australia as part of America’s determination to increase its presence in the Pacific. China’s swollen coffers now also enable it to use foreign aid in the way that America did in plushier days. After the disastrous floods in Pakistan in summer 2010, for instance, China announced its biggest-ever humanitarian aid program including $250 million in donations. It also included a $400 million loan to help Pakistan tackle the financial impact of the flooding, and a cash grant of $10 million toward a fund to compensate people rendered homeless. As part of this new hearts-and-minds policy, the Chinese offered 500 university scholarships over the next three years for Pakistani students, with programs focusing on technological areas of expertise not taught in Pakistan. The two countries will also exchange high school students, young entrepreneurs and voluntary social workers. Meanwhile, Chinese surgeons are being dispatched to Pakistan to perform cataract operations on 1,000 blind patients. Such efforts are obviously paying off. It turns out the Pakistanis are now also proselytizing for the Chinese. According to The New York Times in a report earlier this year:
And all that was before this last catastrophic weekend.
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By heterochromatic, December 7, 2011 at 10:11 am Link to this comment
Alan~~~~ supporting terrorism and fear/hatred of India
has cost Pakistan more than $20 billion, not the war in
Afghanistan.
The Pakistanis waging the war against NATO in
Report thisAfghanistan is quite costly to Pakistan, but the
monetary value of the aid they receive from the
branches of the Pak gov’t is not that great.
By Alan, December 7, 2011 at 2:21 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
we indeed bestowed Pakistan with 20 billion dollars..
Report thisbut Pakistan suffered greatly for mere 20 billion to
balance it ..
It’s economy is in perils, investors are leaving the
country ... The country is on a collapse…
all because of US interference…
The war has cost more to Pakistan than the aid given to
it by US ... We need to put our act together, now…
By heterochromatic, December 4, 2011 at 5:03 pm Link to this comment
what undeclared war?
AUMF
Report thisBy PatrickHenry, December 4, 2011 at 4:39 pm Link to this comment
hetero,
Lets see.
Undeclared war should suffice.
The American public does not support this action by a wide margin….except you and a few maligned others.
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-09-15/politics/afghan.war.poll_1_afghanistan-national-poll-afghan-war?_s=PM:POLITICS
Poll upon poll states this fact and still the will of the majority is ignored.
We are fighting this ‘war’ on borrowed money with scant objective and have been doing it for a decade. The indiscriminate killing of civilians by drones and collateral damage has overshadowed any noble claims we may have had at the onset.
Why do you believe we should still be there? vested interests?
Report thisBy heterochromatic, December 4, 2011 at 12:29 pm Link to this comment
PatH~~~~~We need to pull out of Afghanistan lock, stock and barrel, damn the
consequences.~~~
why?
Report thisBy PatrickHenry, December 4, 2011 at 12:08 pm Link to this comment
With a ‘friend’ and an ally like the United States who needs enemies?
We need to pull out of Afghanistan lock, stock and barrel, damn the consequences.
If we did good for them they will remember us and invite us as a trading partner, if we did them bad they will ally with our competitors.
Report thisBy IMax, December 4, 2011 at 5:59 am Link to this comment
heterochromatic,
Report thisWas there a point in your 5:49 pm post?
By M Henri Day, December 4, 2011 at 12:57 am Link to this comment
Richard, given the geography of the region, the Chinese have been interacting with the Turkish-speaking (and the subject of this article, the Indo-European-speaking) peoples of Central (and South) Asia for thousands of years, both militarily and in other ways, and can hardly avoid continuing to do so. Hopefully, future Chinese governments will continue the current policy of engagement by commercial means, rather than emulating its counterpart in the United States, which seems to rely mainly upon military means to attain its commercial objectives….
Henri
Report thisBy heterochromatic, December 3, 2011 at 6:49 pm Link to this comment
Imax, I’m sure Dick Cheney is proud that Hallibuton is on the board of Directors
Report thisfor USA*Engage. and is thrilled that they’re trying to kept the Iranian theocracy
safe
By IMax, December 3, 2011 at 6:25 pm Link to this comment
Earlier this week, on Monday, the advocacy group USA*Engage sent a letter to each of the 100 Senate offices. The organization’s intention was clear: to prevent the U.S. from imposing economic sanctions on Iran.
USA*Engage’s efforts, however, failed last night when every office to receive such a letter did the exact opposite. The sanctions amendment offered by Senator Bob Menendez (D, New Jersey) and Senator Mark Kirk (R, Illinois), which passed by a 100-0 vote in the Senate.
According to Kirk’s Senate office, “The sanctions would prohibit financial institutions that do business with the bank of Iran from opening or maintaining correspondent banking accounts in the United States.” The goal? “The amendment seeks to deny Iran the resources for its nuclear weapons program.”
So why would USA*Engage actively seek to block a measure that would hopefully prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon?
In the letter, USA*Engage director Richard Sawaya states:
Given that the reported announced intent of the sanctions amendments is to target Iran’s crude sales into the world oil market, the adverse effects on the world economy, and on vital U.S. interests, could be considerable. Such hasty, draconian, unilateral legislation would be ill advised at best.
If any Iran sanctions amendments do reach the floor, we urge you to vote no.
In other words, USA*Engage is concerned that sanctioning Iran will hurt the economy—not at all about allowing a rogue regime to acquire nuclear weapons.
Report thisBy Richard Wills, December 3, 2011 at 10:59 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
It would be a funny joke on the government in Peking if they get swallowed into that Turkish morass of Central Asia. {I define by language usage & DNA,not nation-building rhetoric}
Frankly, I always thought that bunch of neo-confuciounists were too experienced to be hooked by the western delusion that we are clever enough to manipulate the tribal feuding to our profit.
But there are an enormous reserve of mineral wealth to bait the trap for the greedy speculators.
Report thisBy M Henri Day, December 3, 2011 at 5:03 am Link to this comment
And the US is, like the fisherman in the ancient Chinese tale of the quarrel between the snipe and the clam, profiting from the dispute between China and, inter alia Vietnam with regard to territory in the South China Sea.Hard to stomach for people who sang (in my case a Swedish version of) Huynh Minh Sieng’s Gi?i phóng mi?n Nam (Liberate the South), the battle song of the FNL, but such is the way of the world. As Lord Palmerston said of 19th century England : «... We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual ...»
Henri
Report thisBy Lockweed, December 2, 2011 at 7:43 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
“The Pakistanis are quick to point out that the U.S. has been much more willing to forgive archrival India for also developing nukes”. A more glaring example is Israel’s development of nukes, whose acquisition of the technology appears to be with the help of some Americans, although perhaps not the US government.
Like the media’s complete silence on Israel’s nuclear weapons, there is a complete silence on how they acquired them, and some Americans complicity in the matter.
The USA has lost credibility on this issue because of its hypocrisy (ignoring Israel’s large arsenal) and continuously making claims about nuclear weapons as an excuse the attack “enemy” countries and kill millions of their inhabitants. Iraq in 1983 and now Iran. Despite numerous examinations of Iran’s nuclear facilities by the IAEA and Iran’s claims that they don’t have nuclear technology and they don’t want it, the USA wratchets up the rhetoric against the country and every cnadidate running for president says they don’t have a problem with levelling Iran and in fact support doing so - all because Iran “might” be developing nuclear weapons. The propaganda creates the excuse for the attack, just as in Iraq.
You can only lie so many times before the world becomes fed up. And much of the world is fed up with he US. It doesn’t act on the behalf of Pakistans interest when it interferes there. The US is an islamo-phobic country acting on behalf of itself and Israel.
The US has the biggest military in the world, but it is clearly declining in economic performance compared to other countries and it makes enemies all over the world. Not a good foregn policy in my opinion.
Report thisBy heterochromatic, December 2, 2011 at 3:12 pm Link to this comment
Livergood~~~~ No cabal is threatening to attack Pakistan. Some Americans are
threatening to attack the people sheltered in Pakistan, in some case deliberately
sheltered and supported BY Pakistan, who are waging war against the US and other
“cabal” members in Afghanistan.
BTW, is there some parallel that you’re attempting to make between the ouster of
Report thisMubarak and that of Gaddafi ? They don’t seem all that similar….although neither
will be missed much.
By Aarky, December 2, 2011 at 2:38 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
This article must be giving David Cohen at Treasury and the other people at State an ulcer, because the Chinese have also been ignoring many of the US unilateral sanctions against Iran. The bureaucrats are starting to realize that the Chinese will fill the void left by the US when the Pakis kick us out. It didn’t help the Paki attitude toward the US when the US Ambassador was telling them they should cancel plans to build a pipeline from Iran for natural gas.
Report thisBy heterochromatic, December 2, 2011 at 2:18 pm Link to this comment
GT~~~~~ Pakistan is flaming mess and Pakistan currently is offering sanctuary
for Islamists seeking to wrest a portion of China away from the Chinese
government and to set up an Islamic state instead…..
Pakistan’s future depends on whether the Pakistanis want to confront the
problems INSIDE Pakistan or not and whether they’re more interested on
providing a haven for their rich and their military elite and for people believing
in transnational terror or whether they want something different.
China’s interests are not identical with Pakistan’s at present and it’s up to
Report thisPakistan to find some wisdom and will to deal with their problems….No one is
going to keep pumping billions of bucks into Pakistan’s otherwise empty
coffers the way that the US has been…certainly not the Chinese. they’re
businessmen , not altruists.
By berniem, December 2, 2011 at 2:16 pm Link to this comment
Well! If Paki doesn’t want to play with us anymore just let ‘em go and play with those Mao kids. We’ll show ‘em by going over to Burma’s yard soon’s they wash up a little and act more presentable!
Report thisBy GoyToy, December 2, 2011 at 2:03 pm Link to this comment
Hetero (are you?), you’ve been busy with comments—like the one about Mr. Weinstein who apparently is in Al Qaeda hands.
If Pakistan has any sense or cojones, it would know its future lies on close relations with China.
Report thisBy Dr. Norman D. Livergood, December 2, 2011 at 11:55 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
As usual, this counterfeit progressive article fails to see the important point: that the capaitalist cabal is threatening to do to Pakistan what it has already done to Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya: attack, dismember, and change regimes. China and Russia are among the few nations who are opposing the capitalist cabal’s current imperialistic attacks against Syria and Pakistan.
Report thisBy heterochromatic, December 2, 2011 at 9:04 am Link to this comment
China isn’t profiting, Barry. Pakistan isn’t going to find any comfort in Chinese
arms.
~~~~After the disastrous floods in Pakistan in summer 2010, for instance,
China announced its biggest-ever humanitarian aid program including $250
million in donations. It also included a $400 million loan to help Pakistan tackle
the financial impact of the flooding, and a cash grant of $10 million toward a
fund to compensate people rendered homeless.~~~~~
that cash grant of $10 million doesn’t sound really munificent from a country
with “overflowing coffers” Barry. We certainly sent Pakistan more.
Report thisThe Chinese just aren’t going to get anything out of Pakistan because there’s
nothing there. Any money in Pakistan’s coffers goes to military toys…and the
Chinese aren’t going to give a lot of military toys to Pakistan for pennies on the
dollar.