Islamabad: Pakistan has shifted its reliance from the US to China for high-tech weapons, a move confirmed by the downward trend in Washington’s ties with Islamabad and America’s growing closeness with India, says a report. The shift started in the last few months of the Obama administration when the US Congress blocked the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, the report noted.
As a result, Pakistan focused instead on the rollout of the next batch of the JF-17, the fighter jet it is developing with China and which is catching up with the F-16 in terms of capabilities. The ban also speeded up Pakistan’s efforts to transfer its military procurement from American-made weapons towards Chinese ones, or those made in Pakistan with Chinese support.
The report quoted data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute showing that since 2010, US weapons exports to Pakistan have plummeted from $1 billion to just $21 million last year. During the same period, those from China have also fallen, but much more slowly, from $747 million to $514 million, making China the biggest weapons exporter to Pakistan.
“The shift coincided with Islamabad’s growing suspicion about the closeness between the US and India, but was accelerated by the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil in 2011,” the report said.
The suspension of $2 billion in military aid to Pakistan by United States President Donald Trump this year worsened relations between the two countries.
