Sino-Pakistan Relations In The Post-Cold War Period

China and Pakistan are geographical neighbors. The traditional friendshipbetween the two countries has withstood the tests of time. Owing to the long history ofcontacts and similar experiences in modern times, their diplomatic appeals in theinternational politics are closely linked. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations,China and Pakistan has always adhered to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence,making the bilateral relations develop sustainably towards positive directions.Since the1990s, the world situation has changed dramatically. The withdrawal ofSoviet troops from Afghanistan in1989and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in1991led to the ending of the Cold War. Entering into the post-Cold War era, theinternational political structure has greatly changed the international politicalenvironment, affecting the development of Sino-Pakistan relations.In the first decade since the end of the Cold War, Sino-Pakistan relations haveexperienced a little decline. In the dispute between India and Pakistan, China tended toavoid taking any position. There are many reasons for these changes. On one hand,China was actively developing the relations with India, making Pakistan’s strategicimportance decline. On the other hand, in order to set up an image of a responsiblepower in the international arena, China has no longer been willing to support Pakistanunconditionally. Instead, it inclined to have India and Pakistan settle their territorialdispute independently and peacefully.In the21stcentury, with the strengthening of economic globalization and regionalintegration, China and Pakistan has established an all-weather and all-round diplomaticrelations. Cooperation in various fields between the two countries becomes deeper.However, there are still some factors that restrict the development of China-Pakistanrelations. From the external aspect, China, as the world’s emerging power, needs toimprove its relations with India to achieve its own development. Besides, after “9·11”,in order to establish the global anti-terrorism alliance, America enhanced itsrelationship with India. Both of these have brought new challenges to the developmentof Sino-Pakistan relations. From the internal perspective, the Sino-Pakistan anti-terrorism issues as well as the economic and trade cooperation also limit thedevelopment of the bilateral relations.However, the all-weather and all-round strategic partnership between China andPakistan will continue to be maintained and strengthened. The two countries holdbasically the same stand on the vast majority of regional and global issues, and have noconflict of interest in the fields of politics, economics and security. Both sides have alsoshown mutual understanding and support on major issues concerning each other’s coreinterests. In order to promote comprehensive and healthy development ofSino-Pakistan relationship, the two countries should strengthen the development ofbilateral economic and trade relationship, change the “hot politics and cold economy”situation in the development of bilateral relations, reinforce the developmentfoundations of the bilateral relations, accelerate the construction of energy corridor,intensify their economic integration and expand non-governmental and culturalexchanges between them.