Pakistani officials and commentators have been talking up their country’s relationship with Beijing, with some suggesting it could one day replace the United States as Islamabad’s main foreign benefactor.
China’s Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu was met by his Pakistani counterpart, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who brushed aside questions on the timing of the visit.
“Lets not talk USA here. I am here with my friend China,” he told reporters. “China is always there for us in the most difficult moments.”
His remarks echo an often-heard line here about Beijing’s attitude toward Islamabad, one that stands in contrast with what officials perceive is a fickle relationship with Washington.
Beijing provides Pakistan with aid and direct foreign investment, while Pakistan offers Beijing important diplomatic backing in the face of Muslim-majority nations who might otherwise criticize China’s handling of its Muslim Uighur population.
Beijing is concerned that Uighur militants are living in northwest Pakistan alongside Al-Qaeda-linked extremists. Pakistan says it has killed or extradited several of those militants over the past few years, but acknowledged that a small number remain at large in the area.
Meng said he would discuss ways to “contribute to national security and regional stability” with Pakistani leaders.
Cooperation against Uighur Chinese militants would be discussed, said Pakistan’s interior minister prior to his meeting with the Chinese official.
China and Pakistan have long had good ties, in large part due to their mutual distrust of India.
China fought India in a brief but bloody 1962 border war, and Pakistan has fought its neighbor three times since 1947.
In contrast, relations between Washington and Islamabad hit near crisis-point after high-level US security officials alleged last week that Pakistani intelligence forces had backed insurgents who attacked the US Embassy in Afghanistan and, separately, wounded 77 American soldiers in a truck bomb this month.
Washington is demanding that Pakistan launch an attack against those insurgents, whose leadership is believed to be based in northwest Pakistan close to the Afghan border. Officials in Islamabad dismissed the US allegations and are not showing any signs that they plan to act on the renewed American demand.
