China’s partnership with Pakistan has long served as a key instrument in Beijing’s efforts to unsettle India. While official narratives frame the two nations’ alliance as one of economic cooperation and regional stability, the underlying strategy suggests a deliberate attempt to check India’s rise through military, economic and diplomatic maneuvering.
China’s growing influence in Pakistan is deeply intertwined with its own global ambitions. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative, offers China direct access to the Arabian Sea, bypassing potentially vulnerable trade routes. For Pakistan, these investments provide critical infrastructure, yet they also cement a dependency that Beijing can leverage to keep Islamabad firmly in its orbit.
For India, the expansion of Chinese control over Pakistani infrastructure — especially in regions bordering India — creates security concerns. The CPEC runs through areas that India claims as its own, fueling tensions over territorial sovereignty, and reinforcing friction between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Beyond economic investments, China and Pakistan maintain robust military ties. Beijing has supplied Islamabad with advanced weaponry, including fighter jets, missile systems and naval assets, ensuring that Pakistan remains a formidable adversary to India. Joint military exercises and agreements on intelligence sharing further cement this defense partnership, forcing New Delhi to expend significant resources monitoring threats from its northern and western borders.
This dual-front challenge diverts India’s strategic focus, preventing it from dedicating full attention to its aspirations as a global power. The mere possibility of coordinated military operations between China and Pakistan serves as a potent deterrent that keeps Indian defense planners perpetually on high alert.
China’s diplomatic backing of Pakistan — especially on sensitive issues such as Kashmir — adds another layer to this strategy. Beijing has repeatedly blocked India’s efforts in the UN to designate Pakistan-based militants as global terrorists, frustrating New Delhi’s counterterrorism initiatives. China’s opposition to India’s bids for leadership roles in international organizations ensures that India remains entangled in regional disputes rather than focusing on broader global ambitions.
While China’s alliance with Pakistan serves multiple strategic objectives, one of its primary functions is to keep India constantly engaged in subcontinental conflicts. By ensuring that New Delhi must continuously address security concerns along its borders, Beijing delays India’s efforts to strengthen ties with other global powers or consolidate influence in Asia-Pacific affairs.
India is adapting. Enhanced diplomatic ties with the US, Japan and Australia, along with growing domestic military capabilities, suggest that New Delhi is working to counteract Beijing’s tactics. The long-term trajectory would depend on how New Delhi leverages its own alliances and economic resilience to turn this geopolitical challenge into an opportunity for greater strategic positioning.
Khedroob Thondup is a former member of the Tibetan parliament in exile.
President William Lai (賴清德) recently attended an event in Taipei marking the end of World War II in Europe, emphasizing in his speech: “Using force to invade another country is an unjust act and will ultimately fail.” In just a few words, he captured the core values of the postwar international order and reminded us again: History is not just for reflection, but serves as a warning for the present. From a broad historical perspective, his statement carries weight. For centuries, international relations operated under the law of the jungle — where the strong dominated and the weak were constrained. That
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of