Pakistan’s deep-sea port Gwadar, which the Chinese built and are now operating under a 40-year agreement, is a key part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The U.S. and India are looking at the Chinese initiative with skepticism, believing that the twin initiatives are meant more to secure China’s geo-strategic aims.

The CPEC was expected to bring various units of Pakistan together in an integrated economic and communication framework but has instead fanned provincialism and discord. Moreover, senior economists in Pakistan are now increasingly voicing their concern over the terms of financing from China, which is mostly shrouded in mystery.

China now provides half of Pakistan’s military hardware and has demonstrated willingness to transfer technology to Pakistan. As geo-political alignments are changing, the mutuality of interests is drawing China and Pakistan closer.

President Xi Jinping’s latest trip to Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt point to the broader Chinese ambitions in the Middle East, a region where political turmoil and Russia’s military intervention in Syria are already altering the delicate balance of power. Only sustained pressure can persuade Beijing that its future lies in cooperation and not confrontation.

America needs to fix its Pakistan policy, which permits the Pakistani military to nurture more transnational terrorists. The policy also plays into China’s hands by helping Beijing to cement the Sino-Pakistan nexus. Pakistan is an asset for China to keep India boxed in, but a burden for America’s geostrategic interests.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor plans connect China to the Persian Gulf through the quickest route. This huge investment can be transformational for South and Central Asia if Pakistan can improve upon its lackluster performance in FDI absorption and transparent governance.

Much to the befuddlement of the rest of the world – and as ironic as it is – Communist China and Islamic Pakistan are fast friends. It’s all hail to China in

Andrew Small’s new book on China-Pakistan relations is a very significant new revelation on a relationship that has been primarily strategic and military-based since its beginnings. The Karakoram Highway, which connects the two countries, has very little economic value and increasingly “Talibinization” has become a concern for Beijing, which may see its ally as a strategic counter to India’s eminence.

As China and Pakistan decide to re-route the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to avoid the volatile provinces of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a group of Pakistani senators threaten demonstrations at the PRC embassy in Islamabad. The issue highlights problems that undermine China’s desire to forge a secure route to the Gulf.