China-Pakistan Relations: In The Twenty-First Century

Abstract

The year 2021 marked seventy years of China-Pakistan diplomatic relations. In fact, both societies have had civilizational links dating back to the seventh century, owing to their close geographic proximity. Both have maintained close ties, even though they vary ideologically, culturally and politically. Over the past years, the socio-economic gap has also widened. Today, China is the world’s largest economy.1 In the past seventy years, it has made improvements in almost all economic, social and development indicators, despite long periods of civil war, domestic unrest and foreign interventions.2 Pakistan, on the other hand, has lagged behind in almost all indicators, even though it was initially among the “top ten performing developing countries” and even ahead of China.3