Overstates the power China has over the Pakistani Military.
Pakistan has built close ties with Turkiye as well to provide a redundancy along with spare parts for older American/NATO weaponry, along with some leverage when dealing with the Chinese.
If anyone has the power to force both to the negotiating table, it's the UAE and KSA due economic and military ties with India and Pakistan. It was both that negotiated the ceasefire that went in flames after Pehalgam - not the US nor China, plus India views China as a direct adversary.
I know. That's part of CPEC, but similar projects and gated communities have been built by Saudi, Emirati, and Turkish FDI partners in Pakistan as well.
Most of the Chinese investment in PK is in Balochistan which falls under the Balochistan Corps, which is somewhat independent/left to it's own means by Islamabad.
And Pakistan's armed forces relies an equal amount on Turkiye, as a number of Pakistan's critical weapons platforms such as the F-16 require servicing, and Turkiye is the primary source for non-US replacements for NATO parts due to their own attempts at indigenization during the 2010s.
As I mentioned somewhere on HN, I recommend reading Ayesha Siddiqui's research into the Pakistani Armed Forces.
China has been building Chinese-only gated company towns in Pakistani military properties
OK. Now I'm a bit skeptical as well.
I mean, the Chinese have been building Chinese-only gated company towns in [insert global south nation here] military [and everywhere else] properties for a long time now. Not really sure how that translates into Chinese authoritative decision making in matters of wars between nations?
For that you need massive financial underwriting of a military. Far greater than 50%. No disrespect to the Chinese, but I'm sorry, there is no nation in the world where a few gated communities will get you that level of influence. I don't care how important you think you are.
Usually it is the US influencing small countries and having a say in military decisions. Also coming up next is a full blown Chinese military base in Gwadar, something the USSR broke itself trying to get to.
> Far greater than 50%.
If you want to go with the stick yes. For the carrot, it's a bit different, you just have to dangle it. If China says jump, Pakistan will ask how high.
Sorry. Not buying it. Wayyy too many places to get money these days. It’s a multipolar world.
Again, no matter how important you think you are, you’ll need to do a whole lot more than dangle carrots to get that level of influence nowadays. There’s just too many power players for small nations to not play one against the other.
Pakistan has built close ties with Turkiye as well to provide a redundancy along with spare parts for older American/NATO weaponry, along with some leverage when dealing with the Chinese.
If anyone has the power to force both to the negotiating table, it's the UAE and KSA due economic and military ties with India and Pakistan. It was both that negotiated the ceasefire that went in flames after Pehalgam - not the US nor China, plus India views China as a direct adversary.