China and Pakistan seeking agreement on military basing

[Cain]

This is very significant.  China has no overseas bases, and the decision whether to pursue them is a very hot topic in China, for obvious reasons.

On the one hand, bases signify power, and China's status in the coming world order.  On the other hand, bases mean closer international cooperation, and greater willingness to get involved in the activities of other countries, something China has historically been loathe to do.

In this particular case, China seems to be seeking basing in Pakistan to stem the tide of Islamist influenced violence crossing the border in Xinjiang.  There are worries that China is looking to set up a naval base in the country also, to counter growing Indian Navy influence in the region, but China has dismissed such claims.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MJ26Df03.html

China seeks military bases in Pakistan
By Amir Mir

ISLAMABAD - While Pakistan wants China to build a naval base at its southwestern seaport of Gwadar in Balochistan province, Beijing is more interested in setting up military bases either in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan or in the Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) that border Xinjiang province.

The Chinese desire is meant to contain growing terrorist activities of Chinese rebels belonging to the al-Qaeda-linked East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) that is also described as the Turkistani Islamic Party (TIP).

The Chinese Muslim rebels want the creation of an independent Islamic state and are allegedly being trained in the tribal areas of Pakistan. According to well-placed diplomatic circles in Islamabad, Beijing's wish for a military presence in Pakistan was discussed at length by the political and military leadership of both countries in recent months as China (which views the Uyghur separatist sentiment as a dire threat) has become ever-more concerned about Pakistan's tribal areas as a haven for radicals.

Beijing believes that similar to the United States military presence in Pakistan, a Chinese attendance would enable its military to effectively counter the Muslim separatists who have been operating from the tribal areas of Pakistan for almost a decade, carrying out cross-border terrorist activities in trouble-stricken Xinjiang province.

There have been three high-profile visits from Pakistan to China in recent months; the first by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar; the second by President Asif Ali Zardari and the third by the director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha.

The Pakistani visits were reciprocated by the September 28 visits to Islamabad by Chinese Vice Premier Meng Jianzhu and Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu. This was prompted by two bomb blasts in Kashgar city of Xinjiang province on July 30 and 31 in which 18 people were killed.

The explosions provoked senior government officials in Xinjiang to publicly claim for the first time in recent years that the attackers had been trained in explosives in ETIM/TIP camps run by Chinese separatists in the Waziristan tribal regions of Pakistan.

The Chinese allegation was described by many in the diplomatic circles of Islamabad as a clear sign of the growing impatience of Beijing with Islamabad's failure to control radical groups operating within its borders.

[Jenne]

Hm, this is a good development, to my mind.  Clear demonstration to Pakistan that it needs to get its shit together.

[Cain]

On the other hand, Chinese backing is what gives Pakistan it's notoriously difficult attitude towards US interests in the region, because they know they have a patron who doesn't really care about their form of government, human rights record, games in Afghanistan etc with the caveat that they do not affect Chinese investments or cross the border and blow things up in Xinjiang.  Further Chinese consolidation will not aid the USA any, and will probably make Pakistan more intractable on the issues of "strategic depth" and Kashmir.

[Jenne]

...well, if Pakistan can't figure out that China will leave it cold, dead and bloodied in a gutter if it comes to actual blows with the US, then they deserve what the get.  

China AIN'T gonna come to firepower over Pakistan.  And they have no reason to front like Karzai did over the weekend when it comes to Pakistan vs. the US.  Since Pakistan's been having "one over on" the US for a while now, and that sort of phrasing is dependent on how you choose to look at it and if you REALLY believe the US doesn't know everything Pakistan is doing anyway, Pakistan might be feeling its oats where it really can't afford to in the long run. (ETA:  "you" as in general "you" not specific.)

Pakistan's people don't deserve this bullshit, I'm thinking--they just want to get on with their lives.  It's pretty sad their education and future are hanging in the balance as the powers that be play the puppet strings as they will.