Pakistan now relies on China for arms, not US: Financial Times

The deep ties between Pakistan and the United States that blossomed from the end of the 70s are now at sloping. In the backdrop of the Mujahedeen war, the US provided military as well as civilian assistance, enormously and irrationally to Pakistan, but as it is now clears those incessantly growing non state actors under tutelage of Pakistan's government has become a major threat to US security.

In such a situation, it is also natural that the US-Pakistan relations will be affected, whose lack of intensity can be seen after Donald Trump's elected President of America.

So now Pakistan has found an option in the form of China and it has started issuing clear indications to the US that it does not care much about the US anymore.  In this

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbas said in an interview with the Arab News on October 9 2017 that “Pakistan is no more reliant on the United States for military requirements and will reach out to others if one source [of military supplies] dries up.”

Pakistan had started implementing this before, Pakistan's Prime Minister’s aforesaid statement, and now its results are clearly visible.

According to a report of news paper Financial Times “Pakistan is gradually reducing its dependence on American military technology and China is filling the gap, says a Financial Times report, which also warns that this shift will have geo-political repercussions as well.”

This report says “Pakistan shifted its focus from F-16s to the JF-17 fighter jets it is developing with China, and which is catching up with the F-16 in terms of capabilities.”

The report also quotes data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, showing that since 2010, US weapons exports to Pakistan have plummeted from $1 billion to just $21 million last year. During the same period, those from China have also fallen, but much more slowly, from $747m to $514m, making China the biggest weapons exporter to Pakistan.

The Financial Times says further “The shift coincided with Islamabad’s growing suspicion about the closeness between the US and India, but was accelerated by the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil in 2011, which badly damaged relations with the US,” the report added. “US President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend $2bn of military aid to Pakistan — announced in January — further exacerbated the situation.”

Pakistan also got the “rewards” for showing such courage. China made big deals while making a grip on Pakistan's strategic market. One deal in particular shows how ambitious the Chinese have become in their weapons sales. In October 2016, just a month after the US said it would not subsidise the sale of new F-16s, Beijing announced it would sell eight attack submarines to Pakistan for about $5bn — the biggest single arms export deal in the country’s history.

In financial times Farhan Bokhakri comments on Pakistan’s obligations and would be opportunities with China.   Bokhari wrote, “For Pakistan’s defence planners, the collaboration with China on defence technology are not only about equipping their own armed services. They are also hoping they can become a significant arms exporter and, in doing so, help to boost the country’s low foreign currency reserves.”

He further argued that “Pakistani officials say that between 2014 and 2016 the country exported about $63m of weapons, but last year they announced an intention to increase that to $1bn a year. To do that, they say, they will focus on selling aircraft such as the JF-17, jointly made with the Chinese, to countries such as Egypt, Turkey and Nigeria. He says: “Pakistan’s close collaboration with China has helped us build our quality of weapons. Gone are the days when Pakistan only produced small arms.”

America has understood that Pakistan cannot be a reliable ally in South Asia. This is clear from the episode of Afghanistan.  The precluding of assistance to Pakistan is a result of this. With this, it can be seen that the US is cautious as well as reluctant to provide strategic weapons to Pakistan. This is also notable in this context that US had in effect increased the price of the new F-16s from $270m to $700m, putting them out of Islamabad’s reach.

And among these, new strategic relations are developing in South Asia for protection against possible threat from Pakistan and China's new coalition. Meanwhile Washington, where officials are strengthening alliances with other countries in the region likes India Japan and Australia (also known as Quad) as a bulwark against Chinese regional ambitions.