China–Pakistan relations
Diplomatic relations between the People's Republic of China and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan were established in 1950, when the Dominion of Pakistan was among the first countries to sever diplomatic relations with the Republic of China government in favour of recognizing the PRC as the legitimate representative of China. Since then, relations between the two countries have been extremely cordial for the last few decades, which are influenced by their similar geopolitical and mutual interests. Although both countries have vast cultural and religious differences, they have developed a special partnership. Both countries have placed considerable importance on the maintenance of the relationship between them, and their regular exchanges of high-level visits have culminated in the establishment of various cooperative measures. China has provided economic, technical, and military assistance to Pakistan; both sides regard each other as close strategic allies.
Bilateral relations have evolved from China's initial policy of neutrality to an extensive partnership driven primarily by Pakistan's strategic importance. The two countries formally resolved all of their boundary disputes with the Sino-Pakistan Agreement of 1963, and Chinese military assistance to Pakistan began in 1966; a strategic alliance was formed in 1972, and economic cooperation had begun in earnest by 1979. Consequently, China has become Pakistan's third-largest trading partner overall. In 1986, Pakistani president Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq visited China to improve diplomatic relations, and Pakistan was one of only two countries – alongside Cuba – to offer crucial support to China in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. More recently, China has moved forward with an agreement to cooperate in improving the Pakistani civil nuclear power sector.
Maintaining close relations with China is also a central part of Pakistan's foreign policy. On the military front, the People's Liberation Army and the Pakistan Armed Forces share a notably close relationship; China has supported Pakistan's position on the Kashmir conflict, while Pakistan has supported China's position on Xinjiang, Tibet, the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, the Sino-Indian border dispute and the political status of Taiwan. Military cooperation between the two sides has continued to increase significantly, with joint projects producing armaments ranging from fighter jets to guided missile frigates. The overwhelming majority of Pakistan's arms imports are from China, and the country makes up the majority of China's arms exports. Both countries have generally pursued a bilateral policy that focuses to strengthen their alliance in all areas. While serving as China's main bridge to the Muslim world, Pakistan has also played an important role in closing the communication gap between China and the United States—namely through the 1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China. Recent rankings have described Pakistan as the country that is most under Chinese political influence.
History
Pakistan has a long and strong relationship with China. The long-standing ties between the two countries have been mutually beneficial. A close identity of views and mutual interests remain the centre-point of bilateral ties. Since the 1962 Sino-Indian War, Pakistan has supported China on most issues of importance to the latter, especially those related to Taiwan, Xinjiang, and Tibet and other sensitive issues deemed by the West as human rights issues.The Chinese leadership has acknowledged Pakistan's steadfast support on key issues. Pakistan helped China in reestablishing formal ties with the West, where they helped make possible the 1972 Nixon visit to China. Pakistan has collaborated with China in extensive military and economic projects, seeing both as counterweights to an Indian-Western alliance. Pakistan has also served as a conduit for China's influence in the Muslim world.
China also has a consistent record of supporting Pakistan in regional issues. Pakistan's military depends heavily on Chinese armaments, and joint projects of both economic and militaristic importance are ongoing. China has supplied blueprints to support Pakistan's nuclear program.
Amin argues that the basis of the Sino-Pak entente from its beginning has been "a mutual need to pool together resources to contain perceived Indian aspirations to hegemony over South Asia". He continues: "Both China and Pakistan regard the entente as necessary to maintain a balance of power in the subcontinent favourable to themselves against an India that is believed by both Chinese and Pakistani strategists to be an expansionist power that occupies land regarded as properly belonging to Beijing and Islamabad respectively, and that is intent on expanding further".
Historical relations
Buddhist monks from the area of what is now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan were involved in the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to Han dynasty China. The Han dynasty's Protectorate of the Western Regions bordered the Kushan Empire. Faxian travelled in what is now modern-day Pakistan.During World War II, the Hui Muslim imam Da Pusheng toured the Middle East and South Asia to confront Japanese propagandists in Muslim countries and denounce their "invasion" to the Islamic world. Misinformation on the war was spread in the Islamic Middle Eastern nations by Japanese agents. In response, at the World Islamic Congress in Hejaz, Imam Du openly confronted fake Muslim Japanese agents and exposed them as non-Muslims. Japan's history of imperialism was explained by Du to his fellow Muslims. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the future founder of Pakistan, met with Imam Du. The Chinese Muslims in the Second Sino-Japanese War received a pledge of support from Jinnah. The Hindu leaders Tagore and Gandhi and Muslim Jinnah both discussed the war with the Chinese Muslim delegation under Ma Fuliang while in Turkey President İsmet İnönü also met the delegation. Gandhi and Jinnah met with the Hui Ma Fuliang and his delegation as they denounced Japan.
1947–1961: Relations between China and the newly independent state
The Chinese communists defeated the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War. On 1 October 1949, CCP chairman Mao Zedong announced the founding of the People's Republic of China. Pakistan recognized the new Chinese government on 4 January 1950, becoming the first Muslim country to do so. Diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China were established on 21 May 1951. While initially ambivalent towards the idea of a Communist country on its borders, Pakistan hoped that China would serve as a counterweight to Indian influence. India had recognised China a year before, and Indian Prime Minister Nehru also hoped for closer relations with the Chinese. In 1956, Pakistani Prime Minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai signed the Treaty of Friendship Between China and Pakistan, marking closer bilateral ties.1962–present: all-weather diplomatic relations
With escalating border tensions leading to the 1962 Sino-Indian war, China and Pakistan aligned with each other in a joint effort to counter India and the Soviet Union as both have border disputes with India. One year after China's border war with India, Pakistan and China signed the Sino-Pakistan Agreement. The agreement resulted in China and Pakistan each withdrawing from about 1,900 square kilometres of territory, and a boundary on the basis of the 1899 British Note to China as modified by Lord Curzon in 1905.Geo-political considerations drew China and Pakistan close at a time when Pakistan was a member of two explicitly anti-communist alliances, CENTO and SEATO. Since then, the informal alliance that initially began as mutual opposition towards India has grown into a lasting relationship that has benefited both nations on the diplomatic, economic and military frontiers. Along with diplomatic support, Pakistan served as a conduit for China to open up to the West. China has in turn provided extensive economic aid and political support to Pakistan.
Since the two sides established their "all-weather diplomatic relations", there have been frequent exchanges between the two countries' leadership and peoples. For example, former Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai received warm welcomes in all of his four visits to Pakistan. When Zhou died in 1976, then-Pakistani Ambassador to China rushed to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs at 8 in the morning without appointment. Upon arriving at the ministry, the ambassador cried due to his grief in front of Chinese diplomats. In 2004, a road in Pakistani capital Islamabad leading to the Diplomatic Enclave was named "Zhou Enlai Road". It is the first road in Pakistan that is named after foreign leaders. On 27 May 1976, then Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong, aged 83, received his last foreign guest Pakistani president Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto despite his critical illness, 105 days before his death.
File:Ambassador Hilaly receiving US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Rawalpindi on 8 July 1971.jpg|thumb|left|Henry Kissinger was on a secret mission to China facilitated by the Government of Pakistan, a fact known to very few people including Ambassador Hilaly.
Pakistan's military initially depended almost entirely on American armaments and aid, which was increased during the covert U.S. support of Islamic militants in the Soviet–Afghan War. The U.S. under President Richard Nixon supported Pakistan in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. During the simultaneous Bangladesh Genocide, alongside the U.S. and other nations, China helped to suppress reports of the massacres committed by Pakistan. However, the period following the Soviet withdrawal and the dissolution of the Soviet Union led indirectly to the increasing realignment of the U.S. with the previously pro-Soviet India. The Pressler Amendment in 1990 suspended all American military assistance and any new economic aid amidst concerns that Pakistan was attempting to develop a nuclear weapon. Given the support that Pakistan had given them during the War in Afghanistan, many Pakistanis saw this as a betrayal that sold out Pakistani interests in favour of India. This belief was further strengthened as India had developed a nuclear weapon without significant American opposition, and Pakistan felt obligated to do the same. Consequently, the primarily geopolitical alliance between Pakistan and China has since 1990 branched out into military and economic cooperation, due to Pakistan's belief that the U.S. influence and support in the region should be counterbalanced by the Chinese.
Since the September 11 attacks, Pakistan has increased the scope of Chinese influence and support by agreeing to a number of military projects, combined with extensive economic support and investment from the Chinese. With the U.S.-led War in Afghanistan, there is a general sentiment in Pakistan to adopt a foreign policy which favours China over the United States. Washington has been accused deserting Pakistan in favour of a policy that favours stronger relations with India, while Pakistan sees China as a more reliable ally over the long term.
The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence are part of China-Pakistan foreign policy discourse, and in April 2005 these principles were codified in the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Good Neighborly Relations signed between the two countries.
On 22 May 2013, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's airplane was escorted by six JF-17 Thunder jets, jointly developed by the two countries, as it entered Pakistani airspace. The premier was also received by both Pakistani president and prime minister upon his arrival at the airport. On 20 April 2015, Chinese leader and Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Pakistan as his first foreign visit of the year, also the first by a paramount leader in 9 years. Before his arrival, he published an article praising the friendship on Pakistani newspapers like Daily Jang. The Chinese leader compared visiting Pakistan with visiting his brother's home. Like previous visit by Premier Li, the airplane was escorted by 8 JF-17 Thunder jets. Xi was given a grand welcome upon his arrival at Noor Khan airbase, a 21-gun salute and guard of honour was presented to him.
In February 2022, Prime Minister Imran Khan's presence at opening ceremony of 2022 Winter Olympics, Beijing declared support for Pakistan on the Kashmir conflict, Khan also expressed his commitment to the One-China Policy.
After 3 Chinese citizens were killed in the University of Karachi bombing in April 2022, Pakistani president Arif Alvi, PM Shehbaz Sharif, foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto and PTI leader Imran Khan visited to the Chinese embassy where they expressed condolences to the Chinese side over the deaths of the teachers, and strongly condemned the attack. In October 2024, during a seminar in Islamabad, Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong raised concern over attacks targeting Chinese workers in the country, calling their frequency "unacceptable" and a risk towards further funding of the Belt and Road Initiative. This had come after a bombing targeting Chinese engineers in Karachi earlier in the month, as well as an attack targeting Dasu Dam workers in March.