China demanded a “thorough investigation” following a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers travelling from Islamabad to their camp in Dasu, located in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.
The fallout of this incident led to a Chinese power company suspending civil works at the Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project in the Swabi district of KP province and laid off over 2,000 workers, for ‘security reasons’.
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This is not the first time Chinese nationals have been attacked in the KP region. The first such attack involving Chinese nationals was carried out on July 14, 2021, a few kilometres from Dasu dam’s site, leaving nine Chinese engineers and four Pakistani workers dead, while over 23 sustained injuries.
At least four Chinese nationals were killed in an attack by armed rebels in Pakistan’.
The attack was carried out by the suicide squad, Majeed Brigade, of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which has killed many Chinese nationals.
In September 2022, a young Chinese man was shot dead, while a Chinese dentist couple were critically wounded when a man posing as a patient entered their clinic in a busy commercial area in Pakistan’s Karachi and opened indiscriminate fire on the victims.
In April 2022, three Chinese nationals were killed in Karachi suicide bombing.
Despite the repeated targeting of Chinese nationals in Pakistan by terror outfits, China has blatantly supported Pakistan’s support to terror groups operating against India.
In fact, it has repeatedly blocked India’s efforts to get top militants listed as global terrorists in the United Nations, due to petty geopolitical interests.
In 2022, China put a last-minute block on a joint proposal by India and the United States in the UN to list Pakistan-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki as a ‘Global Terrorist’ under the ISIS and Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.
Makki is a US-designated terrorist and the brother-in-law of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
Last year Beijing blocked the proposal that had been moved by the US and co-designated by India to blacklist Sajid Mir under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council as a global terrorist and subject him to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.
LeT terrorist Mir is also wanted for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
China has been supporting Pakistan against India for the past 60 years now. Be it arming Pakistan with weapons, supplying nuclear weapons technology clandestinely or blocking India’s attempts to blacklist dreaded terrorist leaders, including Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, who is the mastermind behind the ghastly suicide bomb attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which left 44 CRPF jawans dead.
China has repeatedly chosen to side with its “all-weather friend” Pakistan regarding terrorism, citing it wanted a solution of the conflict in J&K which was “acceptable to all”.
Even after losing its nationals in Pakistan to terror attacks and seeing that its security forces have failed to protect its citizens, China continues to use Pakistan as a proxy against India, not realising that it is paying a heavy price in terms of money and human life.
China should now atleast feel the pain of becoming victim of terror killings.
The $65 billion CPEC originates from the restive oppressed Uyghur Muslim majority province of Xinjiang in China and goes all the way to the Pakistani port of Gwadar.
The constant attacks on Chinese engineers and the Gwadar port, along with the mounting debt over Pakistan, has clearly put the CPEC project in deep jeopardy now.
“Enemy’s enemy is my friend” is a famous phrase that has come to use in geo-politics since time immemorial. While it sounds like a very good strategy on paper, it doesn’t necessarily pay off every time.
A politically and financially unstable Pakistan can be of no use to any country. Chinese premier Xi Jinping is flirting with danger. By the time he realises this, it will be too late.
The bonhomie may not end immediately, but cracks are finally appearing.
China and Pakistan need each other and also need investment in energy and infrastructure, for which China’s deep pockets can help. China knows it may never recover its investments and Pakistan knows it is unlikely to be able to pay back. Hence, the two are locked in a relationship both cannot exit.
But China can’t afford to suffer losses like this – be it money or human resources. This is the time India should engage with China. Post-Galwan skirmish in Ladakh, the already strained relationship between two countries has gone downhill.
Armed conflict is never a solution to any problem, which is clearly evident from the wars happening in the world. The current situation is a window of opportunity, India should seize it. Sometimes, an enemy’s friend can become your friend too. There are no permanent friends or foes in politics.
