As Imran Khan visits China...

Imran Khan's pronouncements and performance, since assuming the Prime Minister's office, have been the subject of numerous commentaries, written and spoken and there is little new that I can add to them. But what has me worried is the cavalier manner in which sensitive issues relating to the realm of foreign policy are being used to score political points and even worse, to settle perceived personal slights. This is why Prime Minister Imran Khan visit to China has given rise to unusual speculation, as well as muted expectations in many quarters.

Even in the best of times, Imran Khan’s approach would be fraught with risks, but when pursued by the political leadership of a country located in an extremely sensitive region of the globe and confronted by massive challenges from powers whose hostility is irrefutable, we are placing at grave risk not merely our wellbeing, but our national security, as well.

Let me stress here that I am not referring to any of the many faux pas associated with senior Ministers, such as the proclivity to twist and modify contents of official communications from foreign powers, for they appear endemic to our current political dispensation. But what has many of friends and colleagues in the think tanks and the academia deeply concerned is the insouciant attitude being demonstrated by the country's new political leadership towards the Peoples Republic of China.

While it would not be wrong to assume that virtually all Pakistanis and for that matter the Chinese too, are aware of the fact that the two countries have been friends for many years, few understand the critical nature of our ties, or appreciate the need to continue nurturing this relationship with tender care and close ministration. It goes to the credit of their founding fathers that even at a time when their countries were associated with rival global power centres, they had the wisdom and foresight to reach out to each other and seek to understand what their core interests were. When Prime Ministers Mohammad Ali Bogra and Zhou Enlai met in Bandung in 1954, they could not have even visualized that they were sowing the seed that would grow into a mighty tree that has provided shade and sustenance to both, for the past many decades. Even if we were to dismiss as hyperbole common among friends, the oft-repeated Chinese remark that Pak-China relations are "higher than the highest mountain, deeper than the deepest ocean and sweeter than honey", it is a fact that every single leadership in both countries has contributed, in significant ways, to the consolidation of these ties. The character and complexion of the political leadership has not mattered; they were all enthusiastically and unabashedly committed to the goal of enhancing bilateral cooperation, extending to areas so sensitive and critical that it would be inappropriate to refer to them.

Having been associated with Pak-China relations for the past four decades, from both the Islamabad and Beijing ends, I cannot but speak of the surprise with which the Chinese would receive remarks and comments made by the PTI leadership, when it was in opposition. They however, found comfort in being assured that this behaviour could be ascribed to PTI's desperation to enter the seat of power. But observations by senior PTI leaders and legislators, since coming to power, have rekindled those fears. The most egregious of these was the unfortunate interview given to a foreign newspaper by an Advisor to the Prime Minister a day before the Chinese Foreign Minister was coming to Islamabad, to establish the first contact with the new government. Since the Advisor is not only a most successful businessman, but also a veteran of the Musharraf regime, his words could not be ascribed to ignorance. Was it then his personal view, or did it reflect the sentiments of his leader? If the former, would he be asked to quit and if the latter, what did this portend for our bilateral ties, whose foundation is based on unparalleled mutual trust and mutual confidence.

The confusing and contradictory messaging from Pakistan as regards CPEC have left the Chinese wondering as to what the PTI is signalling. They want the Imran Khan government to know that the Belt and Road Initiative was in the research and consideration stage for years, before being launched in mid-2013. Its first and most critical chapter was CPEC, signed when President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Pakistan in April, 2015. But CPEC was not crafted to benefit Nawaz Sharif or to favour his government. Of course, Nawaz Sharif was seen as a strong leader who had a track record of not merely concluding important agreements with China, but of ensuring their rapid implementation---the civil nuclear reactor agreement in his first term and the JF17 fighter aircraft deal in his second term. Nawaz Sharif had the vision and foresight to appreciate CPEC for what it was---a unique opportunity to bring the biggest investment package ever offered to Pakistan, that would not merely help eliminate the country’s crippling power crisis but also ensure growth and development in infrastructure, ports, industrial zones and half a dozen other sectors of the economy. And contrary to the US-led propaganda, sadly echoed by the PTI, CPEC has neither crippled the national economy, nor saddled it with massive debts.

I say this on account of personal knowledge, as Minister Ahsan Iqbal and I were the very first persons to be sent to Beijing, within days of Nawaz Sharif coming to power, to initiate our negotiations with the NDRC. We began with some ideas jotted on a piece of paper but concluded with a fully fleshed, detailed concept paper, along with dozens of agreements, within a year, thanks to the skill and resolve of negotiators on both sides. That the signing of these agreements was delayed by over half a year on account of the infamous “dharna”, is of course, another sad chapter that will continue to haunt its authors! Those who are critical of CPEC should spend a few minutes imagining Pakistan, without the abundant power that has resulted in our industries humming round the clock and the network of highways and motorways crisscrossing the country. And as had been decided in the PML(N) Government’s last JCC, CPEC would be expanding into new areas such as agriculture, industrial zones, poverty alleviation programs and the social sector. Let the critics judge if Pakistan has ever seen projects, on this scale, being completed at this speed?

Now, in addition to the negative vibes coming out from Islamabad, I was startled to note during my visit to China last week, my friends repeatedly wondering as to why the long held tradition of a new Pakistani leadership---both civilian and military---making an early, if not the very first foreign visit to China, been set aside? In any case, even if the Prime Minister was much too busy trashing his political rivals at home, surely the Foreign Minister could have been dispatched to Beijing, within weeks of assuming office.

Whatever PTI’s grouse and grievance against Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif may be, Imran Khan and his government would be doing the country great harm, if in ignorance or ineptitude, or in quest of monetary bail-out mirages, they were to cast any shadow on Pakistan’s relations with its only all-weather friend, whose solidarity with us, has withstood many a storm in the region and beyond. I beg of Mr. Imran Khan; please do not throw out the baby with the bathwater!