ISLAMABAD: Pakistan cabinet has given a thumbs-up to the negotiation of a long-term defence agreement with China. Officials said the approval was given in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the Governor House in Lahore.
The summary to initiate negotiations on a draft agreement between Pakistan and China on a long-term strategic framework agreement for enhancing defence and security cooperation in diversified fields, were the points considered. The cabinet was informed that the draft agreement was based on principles of mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity, sovereignty, non-integration and non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality, and cooperation for mutual benefits, and peaceful co-existence for strategic gains in defence and security, including arms and technology transfers.
The announcement came a few days after the United States signed an agreement with India, governing the use of each other's land, air and naval bases for repair and resupply. The Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement between the US and India was called an agreement between two sovereign states, by Pakistan. It hoped it would contribute to peace and stability. “Pakistan would like to see that such arrangements do not contribute to polarising the region by disturbing the strategic balance in South Asia and escalating the arms buildup,” Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria told a news briefing.
In 2011, the then prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, expressed a desire to sign a defence deal with China during a trip to Beijing. At the time, the Chinese leadership advised Pakistan against such an agreement fearing that it might create a strain in Islamabad’s and Beijing’s relations with both Washington and New Delhi.
However, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry recently informed the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence that Pakistan’s growing strategic partnership with China was one of the main reasons behind the current strain in its ties with the United States. The United States was probably upset with the multi billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, according to him.
