In rare candid admission that the "all weather" ties between China and Pakistan are running out of fizz, Chinese state-run strategic think tanks say that the decades-old relationship needs "new form of inspiration" as it is confronted with "new challenges".
"The China-Pakistan relationship, one of the most long-lasting strategic and cooperative partnerships, is confronted with new challenges," an article titled 'Long-lasting Sino-Pak friendship needs new form of inspiration' published in the state-run Global Times here today said.
The article, which is a compilation of views from strategic analysts from both countries during their annual "think-tanks" meeting held recently said the past emphasis it is the "most important" relationship is a "comparative expression" with its importance more in the regional context than in the global arena.
"The China-Pakistan relationship is always regarded as one of the most important bilateral relationships for both countries. However, most important is a comparative expression. We should figure out how this relationship earns this superlative form of speech," Ye Hailin, editorial director of South Asian Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in his presentation.
"The relations between China and Pakistan can only be included within regional issues, compared with the global relations between major powers such as China, Russia and the US," Ye said apparently referring to the importance of this relationship in the context of China-India relations, which in recent years showed signs of improvement.
"The changes in terms of the internal economic requirements and the external security needs have urged us to consider if we need to attach more importance to China-Pakistan relations," Ye said.
Chinese and Pakistani leaders always described their relations as "deeper than oceans and higher than mountains", rarely acknowledging the widely held perception that it was mainly aimed at containing India.
"Since the 21st century, although both countries keep stressing the China-Pakistan friendship, they have realised that there are some problems with their close relationship, especially in terms of economic exchanges," Ye said.
That is also why both leaderships decided to focus on the "strategic meaningfulness" of their bilateral relationship by introducing more "solid projects", such as the economic corridor which aims to connect China's Xinjiang with Pakistan Gwadar port, he said.
"These decisions are very important, because they have nailed down this long-standing friendship," he said.
"Besides the need for economic collaboration, China and Pakistan cannot underestimate the acuteness of furthering their political and security cooperation. The overly lopsided attention on economic cooperation is likely to cause negative impact over the regional security framework," he said.
