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Becoming Self-Sustaining: China and Pakistan
By Dr Ghulam M Haniff
St. Cloud, Minnesota
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China and Pakistan became sovereign nation-states about the same time though one with considerable struggle and the other peacefully. The time period for their independence was roughly towards the tail end of the 1940s. For China it involved the capture of the city of Beijing in 1949, and for Pakistan it was through a negotiated settlement in 1947.
China had been nominally independent since 1911 though it was carved-up in several “spheres of influence” by the Western powers and each portion was exploited fully. Furthermore, some of these powers carried out their unrestricted trade through “free ports” by having access to rivers and ports. China was anything but an independent nation until its overthrow of the regime put in place by Chiang Kai-shek in 1949.
As for Pakistan though it proclaimed its independence in 1947 through negotiations the documents to that effect were signed in a few years. For China the cause of revolution was not won until 1949 after an arduous revolutionary struggle. Both the countries wanted to develop on their own, and China did after 1949 though Pakistan badly faulted. Perhaps, the election of 2013 offers the country a renewed chance.
After having experienced colonialism under the West China rejected the Western form of life by selecting communism as the model for the nation. It has since then softened the image of communism to the point that it has all but disappeared.
Because of its re-organization it can afford to soft-pedal the hard-line communistic ideology of the previous times. Since the late 1980s it has selected to use the Western economic thought for building a modern productive society. The path China has chosen is likely to produce a democratic political system eventually.
Unfortunately, China and its people have suffered a lot, with millions slaughtered and imprisoned. Further debilitation is the one-child policy that may distort growth in China. It is not known whether such a policy would be remembered in the future and whether it would bring some lethal action on the part of the public against the leaders.
As for Pakistan it has mostly managed to remain passive and has barely gotten along through consuming as little as possible. It has largely refrained from harsh measures of colonialism though considerable amount of rhetoric has been used to condemn the practice.
It is quite likely that the issue of colonialism brought the two nations together, that is China and Pakistan, to make it possible for the Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to visit China in 1973 when it was a totally isolated country. Later on, the same consideration perhaps made it possible for the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, to undertake the formal opening of the country for the citizens of the two nations.
Had this journey not been undertaken it is quite likely that the two countries, USA and China, would still have been at loggerheads. Pakistan’s role was a crucial one in the way in which the opening of China was made possible. For a while Kissinger’s flight to Beijing began at Karachi and afterwards for others as well for a number of years.
Since 1973, the year in which Nixon visited China, virtually all of the indicators show a drastic improvement in the capital infra-structure of the Chinese economic system. Much later, these improvements also spilled over into Pakistan such as when the Karakoram Highway was constructed in one of the most difficult terrains of the country. This road has been kept open and improvements made continuously mostly by Chinese engineers or Pakistani ones trained in China.
Pakistan has also been a beneficiary of educational opportunities such as schooling in Chinese universities and the ability to learn the language of China. Moreover, China has also provided instructions in their language for the Pakistani students at home and their country.
Continuous visits back and forth have kept the two-way communications open where high ranking leaders travel either way. In the recently held elections Chinese were very interested and expressed the desire to be observers.
The most important project between the two countries at present is the construction of the port of Gwadar. It brings China into Pakistan on a long -term basis and is likely to contribute to a balance of power in the region. It may also enhance the opening of Central Asia and perhaps its economic development. Pakistan is to benefit from China’s development since it was executed in the present time, in contrast to America’s and Europe’s. It may also discourage American military adventurism though it may want to lurk around in the area just because China is there.
Neither collaboration nor confrontation may be appealing to the two major powers while neither one is likely to gamble being drawn in. As for Pakistan it can pursue its projects in peace and learn from the two masters. Just like China it has a lot to learn though China has reached the top to be the most productive nation by the end of this century.
