China-Pakistan Relations: With Reference to the Political Economy

Pakistan has a long and strong relationship with China, and it will remain their strength due to their geo-political requirements. A close identity of socio-political views and mutual interests in the political economy remain the centre-point of bilateral ties. Since 1962 war, Pakistan has supported China in important matters regarding national and international issues. Pak-China also collaborated extensively in military and economic projects. Pakistan has also served as a conduit for China’s influence in the Muslim World. China has pledged to vastly increase their investment in Pakistan’s economy and infrastructure. The author of the paper believes that this paper would academically contribute towards Pakistan to promote peace through political economy between ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor.


INTRODUCTION
Pak-China relationship has a glorious past, [and a] bright future. 1 Karakoram Highway, the connection between China and Pakistan, is also sometimes referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World. One of the reasons for this is that the solid ties between these two countries have been built on the fact that there is mutual benefit. Pakistan shares a common border with the People's Republic of China through her Nothern States of Hunza and Gilgit 2 (about 300 miles). The Chinese ancient traders used to visit the land of the Indus for commercial purposes. Their contributions are more valuable than the merchants in the promotion and exchange of ideas and culture between these two ancient civilizations. 3 On the other hand, Pakistan has repetitively received help with regional issues because the Pakistan military depends heavily on Chinese armaments and joint projects of both ecomilitaristic importance.
Diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China were established as early as May of 1951. The diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on the basis of equality, mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty". 4 To ensure that the trade between the two countries remains strong and continuous, the development of the very significant China-Pak Economic Corridor is under construction. It will connect Pakistan with China and the Central Asian countries via highways from Kashgar to Khunjrab and Gwadar. It will reduce the time required for transporting and trading goods, and thus decreasing overall expenditures. The most important consideration of all, in favour of recognition of Pakistan by the Chinese was the fact that Pakistan, then aspired to play a leading role among the Muslim states of the Middle East, China therefore, regarded her relationship with Pakistan as a prerequisite to a role of its own in the Middle East". 5

CHINA-PAKISTAN ECONOMIC CORRIDOR
Trade is a residual item, a way of making up deficiencies or disposing of surplus. 6 China has pursued trade relations with a number of underdeveloped countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, including Pakistan. In many of these cases, motivation has been as much political as commercial or economic. 7 It is basically a construction project which will result in the formation of many different forms of routes to ensure the continuous 1  Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org ISSN (Paper)2224-5766 ISSN (Online)2225-0484 (Online) Vol. 6, No.3, 2016 and bountiful trade between these two major countries. According to the Board of Investment of the Prime Minister's Office Government of Pakistan, "The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a network of Roads, Railway, Energy Infrastructure, and Pipelines with 3,000km from Gwadar in Pakistan to China's western Xinjiang region -It includes a total of over US $46 billion Investment." 1 This project is expected to be completed up to 2030. It was decided that the finance for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will be provided by both the countries, to decrease the dependence on foreign countries. Establishment of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was first proposed by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his visit to Pakistan in May 2013.
It was announced by the Chinese government in November of 2014, that $45.6 billion will be spent on financing energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. 2 For example, the Karakoram highway (a 1,300 km long highway from Havelian in the Abbottabad District to Thakot) project, which first began construction in 1979, will receive new attention in order to widen it and get the most out of it. The Islamabad-Hazara motorway is yet another route that the Chinese government will assist Pakistan in building. Lastly, due to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the areas surrounding the pathway will be updated to match the level of development of the highway. 3

MOU'S SIGNED DURING THE PRESIDENT OF CHINA'S VISIT: 4
On April 20, 2015, the Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Islamabad to meet Pakistan's officials and decide on new plans of actions. Pakistan and China signed 51 MoU's, 5 of which were pertaining to the energy sector while 30 pertain to the economic development. They also decided that China will invest about $45 billion in Pakistan to improve renewable energy, optical fiber installation, anti-terrorism, anti-narcotics, LNG, Karakoram Highway and many others. China's president, Jinping stated, 5 "The purpose of my visit is to strengthen ties with Pakistan. Like Pakistan, China also expects peace in Afghanistan. We support the efforts of Pakistan regarding terrorism." Furthermore, he added that "a new era of economic development would begin with these agreements between China and Pakistan." As an additional bonus, both Presidents also inaugurated 8 projects after the ceremony, unveiling the following plaques: 1. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Lahore Branch.  5 sources in order to conduct their part in the society and economy, thus China has a great demand for oil, as cheap as they can get it. This means that their cost for importing oil is at an extreme level, but there is nothing they can do about because oil is one resource that they do not have, but desperately need for all their people. Energy is at the base of every single one of China's projects, or the world's for that matter, and without they cannot even imagine progressing in their economy.
Oil imports are very important for China, however, another very important benefit that China will gain from this deal has to do with the fact that "half of Chinese exports are destined on its Western side, so it will also gain tremendously by saving on its containerised traffic costs". 1

CONCLUSION AND ANALYSIS
Contemporary changing patterns of international politics will draw attention of the world's leaders to look at the recent change in the region of South Asia and its impact on the rest of the world. Just after the global recession after September 11, 2001, China did not face the challenges which the North American world faced because of its establishment in the political economy and public policies towards actual grooming of economic zones and support to its people. In response to the governments support, Chinese people, whether they live in Chinese territory or any other part of the world, believe that the stability in the political economy of China will always maintain the positive image of the Chinese nation in the rest of the world to defeat the Uni-polar system after the war between the former USSR and USA. Undoubtedly, Pakistan's rival, India has shifted its political role to support the USA and expand its business and allow US to expand businesses in the Indian Territory which might have previously been a challenge to the neighbour country of China. Realizing this fact, Chinese leadership decided to motivate its nation and decision makers to encourage and support the China-Pak Economic Corridor, which is obviously a great message in world politics regarding mutual understanding between China and Pakistan, economic growth, and war against terrorism. Furthermore, this effort will create a meaningful message of peace and tolerance as well as restoration of the message of the United Nations for peaceful settlement and cooperation among the nations. This effort would also be a source of inspiration for promoting socio-political relations as well as intercultural communications among nations.