Islamabad:
Nations, like people, often reflect patterns of behavior. They have a reputation, exhibit habitual traits, and usually find the essence of their identity in their nature. This also applies to Pakistan – a country that has always been on the wrong side of history because of its behavior – with both friends and enemies.
In the latest in its series of antics, the nation, mired in a worrying mix of terrorism, poverty, inflation, rigged elections, civil unrest, political instability and economic misery, sought to arm its “all-weather ally” China. As you can well guess, it didn’t end well: Islamabad was rejected again.
PAKISTAN’S ‘TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT’ TACTICS WITH CHINA
Recently, a high-level meeting was organized between senior government and military officials of Pakistan and China. Deliberations and negotiations on the future use of the strategic port of Gwadar in Balochistan were discussed in accordance with the so-called ‘China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’. At this point, Pakistan, perhaps forgetting which side of the negotiating table it sat on, decided to flex its muscles.
Islamabad has reportedly told Beijing that if Pakistan wants a military base in Gwadar, it can only allow it if Beijing is willing to arm the country with a second-strike nuclear capability – fulfilling its age-old obsession with New Delhi rivals this on its own. This tone, which bordered on threatening, did not go down well with Beijing, which firmly rejected the outrageous demand and decided to suspend future talks indefinitely due to Islamabad’s astonishing audacity.
A breakdown in diplomatic and military talks with China, even temporarily, does not bode well for Pakistan as cash-strapped Islamabad is heavily dependent on economic bailout packages from Beijing. China has also long been a savior to the Pakistani military, supplying the country with most of its weapons and ammunition – from bullets to fighter jets. Pakistan’s military, which has a history of interfering in civilian government decisions, is currently facing a crisis with widespread anger and protests across the country over rigged elections and the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. the current situation on site.
According to a report in Drop Site News, the Pak-China relationship is apparently “in freefall due to public and private disputes over security concerns, as well as China’s demand to build a military base in Pakistan.” Earlier this year, the news website reported advanced talks on setting up a Chinese military base in Gwadar. According to secret Pakistani military documents seen on the news website, Islamabad had made this known “private guarantees” to Beijing that it “would be allowed to convert Gwadar into a permanent base for the Chinese military”.
Pakistan is retracting its promises and is now making huge demands in exchange for the strategic port. Islamabad has asked Beijing to meet all its demands – military, economic and otherwise – to protect the country from a Western-led response to the port’s handover to China. But its demand for a nuclear triad and a second nuclear capability goes far beyond what even Beijing can consider.
China would open itself to widespread global sanctions and isolation if it violates the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty or the NPT by supplying such advanced nuclear weapons capabilities or technology to anyone who has not signed the NPT. As a signatory to the treaty, China is a classified nuclear weapons state, or NWS. The treaty explicitly prohibits any NWS country from transferring nuclear or nuclear weapons, technology or material to a non-NWS country.
With such a demand, Pakistan is telling China to put itself at risk just so that Islamabad can fulfill its obsession with countering New Delhi.
Beijing is also seething with anger after Islamabad did not allow the Chinese Navy to make a port call at Gwadar port during the joint Sea Guardians III exercise between the two countries. Pakistan had done this after pressure from the United States due to American sensitivity to a Chinese military presence in the strategically important port.
WHAT IS A SECOND NUCLEAR ATTACK
A nuclear second-strike capability is the greatest deterrent any nuclear-weapon state can pursue or aspire to. It is the most valued form of military deterrence a country can have. It means that a country that has suffered a crippling conventional or nuclear attack from a hostile state still has the ability to hit back with its nuclear weapons.
This is generally supported by a nuclear triad – meaning a country has the ability to launch its nuclear weapons via all three methods: surface, air and subsurface methods. Surface missiles and vehicles carrying them are understood to mean both on the ground or on land (silos) and at sea (from warships). In the air means firing a nuclear missile from an aircraft, and underground means firing a nuclear missile from under the ground or under the sea (submarine). SLBMs give the country the ability to strike back even if the mainland has faced a crippling attack.
A second attack option makes the stakes of a first attack by the enemy too high, because it results in a devastating attack on that enemy country.