In a highly important development in the context of dynamics of changing bilateral and multi-lateral relationships in the region, China’s defence minister has told Pakistan’s navy chief that their militaries including their navies should “expand into new fields of cooperation” to bolster the capability of the two neighbours in safeguarding security in the region.

According to media reports, ties between the two militaries stretch back years, with their navies and air forces holding bilateral exercises in each other’s territory. This development must have caused a setback to the illegitimate designs of India through which this South Asian country has been striving to become a regional hegemon.

That India-China bilateral relationship has worsened in recent months is a fact that has found its best expression from Indian minister of external affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s admission at the recently concluded SCO moot of foreign ministers in India’s state of Goa where he clearly stated that the China-India relations “are not normal”.

At this summit India had tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to divert participants’ attention from its illegal step of August 5 2019 of depriving the occupied Jammu and Kashmir state of Article 370 and reducing its status to one of India’s union territories.

No doubt, increasing cooperation between China and Pakistan in diverse fields, including economic and military, must constitute an anathema to India. Needless to say, it is India’s growing belligerence that has immensely added to tensions in the region and beyond.

Saeed Mehdi (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023