Opinion

CHINA-PAKISTAN, BHAI-BHAI COMING OUT TO BE MUCH MORE STRONGER IN 2021

China-Pakistan Friendship

“Deeper than the oceans, higher than the Himalayas, stronger than iron and sweeter than honey,” is how Pakistan defines its friendship with China. China has returned the compliment by gifting Pakistan a naval warship that is very modern.

It is meant to enhance naval ties between the two sides and is a symbolic goodwill gesture. For India, it is an alarming situation as it is said that the warship will be stationed in the Karachi port with an aim to alter the balance of power in the Indian Ocean. The warship has been built by China for the Pakistan navy.

The warship was delivered on Monday to Pakistan Navy officials at a commissioning ceremony held in Shanghai. Chinese government mouthpiece The Global Times highlighted this aspect and reiterated that the vessel is meant for promoting peace and stability.

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This is not just any warship. This is the largest and most advanced warship China has ever built for any of its allies. Pakistan has named the warship as PNS Tughril. Tughril was a Turkish chieftain who conquered Iran in the 9th Century.

The Tughril is a Type 054 A/P guided-missile frigate. This is the best frigate in the PLAN fleet. It is equipped with advanced radars and missiles and has a total loaded displacement of about 4,000 metric tons. The warship is presumed to be capable of carrying out anti-submarine, anti-missile and anti-aircraft operations.

This will be Pakistan navy’s first ship to be equipped with a vertical launch system for surface-to-air missiles. A vertical launch system can simultaneously fire multiple missiles as the missiles are stored in ready-to-fire silos. The PNS Tughril is equipped with 32 vertical launch missile silos, and the missiles have a range of up to 7,000 km.

Pakistan is slated to get four such warships. It is estimated that each of the warships would cost anywhere between 300 to 350 million dollars. It is the price tag that raises concerns. Pakistan is not in a position to pay this amount.

It is seeking loan after loan from allies as well as the IMF. Given the fact that the Chinese are like Shylock when it comes to money, the question that is confounding defence analysts is what is the trade-off. What has Pakistan surrendered in lieu of the new ships?

The ships are proposed to be stationed at the Karachi port. Thus, it becomes vital for India to monitor the activities of these ships closely. It is all the more important given the present situation where India is in a state of confrontation with both Pakistan and China. This is seen as part of China’s string of pearls strategy.

As per this strategy, China wants to encircle India with naval bases all around the Indian Ocean thus choking the Indian Navy in its own backyard. China operates a naval port in Djibouti, the Gwadar port in Pakistan and the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka.

All these ports are in operational control of China. Now, China is supplying them with its own vessels thus deepening its presence in the Indian Ocean. This has amplified the threat to India from China.

As part of its strategy for world dominance, China has recently emerged as a major arms exporter and is making its presence felt in the international armament market. Even though Chinese goods come with a reputation of not being reliable, many emerging economies see it as a cheap option compared to western armament which are very expensive.

China’s state-owned enterprises are the biggest supplier of arms to the Myanmar military. In 2019, the Bangladesh navy received two frigates that were decommissioned by the PLAN. It is estimated that over the last five years, Dhaka has procured 70% of its arms from Beijing. China’s expansion and influence are not limited to Asia alone. China has been making strident inroads into the European weapons market as well.

Earlier this year, Serbia purchased six Chinese drones at a cost of around 20 million dollars thereby earning the tag of becoming the first European country to do so. Defence analysts feel France, Denmark and Germany are also working with Chinese firms to manufacture drones. China is fast emerging as a leading arms supplier globally. Defence deals are not just about business. They have geopolitical ramifications.

They build up a loyal clientele. All the countries that purchase Chinese weapons will depend on it for supply of spare parts. This will create dependability which will bring them under China’s influence. Ultimately, they will start behaving as a client state of China, as does Pakistan.

This allows China to get their consent and support on many contentious issues on global platforms and helps it to evade accountability. Pakistan, even though an Islamic country, never complains about the inhuman treatment meted to the Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang province of China.

Millions of them are rotting in concentration camps but Pakistan has never raised that issue at global platforms like UN or even within OIC. On the other hand, Pakistan keeps screaming at the top of its voice about Kashmiri Muslims. Pakistan constantly complains that Kashmiri Muslims are being subjected to human rights violations by the Indian Army.

The ground reality is that they experience full freedom and avail all the facilities that every other Indian citizen is entitled to. Similarly, none of these countries raised the issue of origin of Corona virus even though all empirical evidence point towards Wuhan, China as the source of the pandemic.

Had China been implicated in this, it might have had to pay trillions of dollars as damages to afflicted countries. The selling of ships to Pakistan is not just an arms deal. As always there is more than what meets the eye.

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