The people of Pakistan seem to be laboring under some delusions regarding China; the first being that it is a superpower on the level of the US and that the West is somehow dependent upon it. The second is that China is Pakistan’s best friend, ever ready to help us against India or the US. Maybe it’s because of China’s amazing growth in the last few years, or maybe Pakistanis just see China as the knight in shining armor who’ll free them from the clutches of the evil USA, but this type of thinking has distorted the world view of not only the common man, but also high profile politicians and even highly educated member of the society.

Pseudo intellectuals often try to pass off as fact the claim that the West and especially the US is now economically dependent on China, which is untrue; in fact, it is the other way around. The Chinese economy is driven by exports of consumer goods (it is currently the biggest exporter in the world) and its biggest customer is the Eurozone, followed by the United States. To be fair, both the West and China are dependent to some extent on each other, but maybe dependence is too harsh a word, it would be better to say that they enjoy benefits which wouldn’t be possible without the other i.e. cheap merchandise for the West and a huge market for China.

Some people are fond of claiming that China “funds America” through loans and again this shows a poor understanding of economics. Out of a total US debt of around $15.7 Trillion, Chinese investors own just over $1 Trillion and that does not mean that the Chinese are “funding America” or that they indirectly control the US. It is true that if China decides to sell the US bonds, it will bring down the dollar, causing inflationary pressures on the US economy, but such a move will also harm Chinese exports. The long and short of the matter is that the economies of the US and China are so entwined that neither country can harm the other without harming itself.

There seems to be a belief (or maybe it’s a hope?) that the Chinese will, one day, “take over” from the US, destroying their economy in the process. Indeed, one comes across many youngsters (and some older men too) using various profanities to describe what China will do to the US! After the Global Financial Meltdown in 2008, many believed that the Chinese wanted to “de-throne” the US Dollar, but four years down the line, the Dollar is still going strong. In fact, China is highly anxious to keep the Dollar stable because it holds trillions of dollars in reserve. In the same way, they are anxious that the US and Eurozone economies remain stable (and continue to grow) because the alternative would be a global recession that would take down China too. Therefore, it is naïve to think that the Chinese wish to somehow harm the Western economies.

Coming to the second point, some people think (or again maybe they hope) that China will always take Pakistan’s side against the US and India. Now, this springs from the belief, deeply rooted in Pakistani minds that India and the US are their sworn enemies and always on the lookout for opportunities to hurt Pakistan. This isn’t true, but even if it were its naive to think that China will ever back Pakistan against India or the US. The reason is simple: Money. The US-Sino trade in 2011 was almost $500 billion dollars, while Chinese trade with India was around $75 Billion at the same time. Moreover, Chinese trade with India is expected to reach $100 billion by 2015.

In recent years, there has been a marked improvement in Sino-Indian relations, so much so that China has called it the most “important bilateral relationship of the 21st century”. They have made progress in solving their border dispute and at the second BRICS summit in 2011, the two decided to re-store defense cooperation. China has also vowed to help India balance its trade deficit.

There is no doubt that China is a close ally of ours, but it is wrong to expect that they will ever put Pakistan before either India or the US. The nuclear armed neighbors are aware of their rising status in the world both recognize the huge potential for further trade and economic development. Even now, China is India’s biggest trading partner.

In the Grand Scheme of things, India is far more important to China than Pakistan is and it’s high time we understand this. Right now, we need to stop looking for a patron, be it the US or China and instead concentrate on getting out economy out of the ditch. And no one else, not even China, is going to do this for us.

There are no eternal friends and enemies in any foreign policy of a country. one should remember it as a basic fact among the relations between nations. China mainly believe in dialogues rather wars or battles as china's economy is growing they need more market as Pakistan's total market has been hijack by china now India would be better option for them and also they want to settle down all the disputes with India as US did with Canada. So China would be next Super power.

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"When God Want to Humiliate A Person then He Almighty Deprive him of Knowledge" Hazrat Ali A.S

before i comment on that thread i give reference from what ISLAM says...
Yahood o Nisara kabhi tumharay dost nhi ho skte...kafir musalman ka aur musalman kafir ka dost nhi ho skta....
now i give you my opinion, you are damn right...people of this country must come out of illusion that china is Pakistan's intimate friend and will always come to help us...
chinese have their own axe to grind, they are now going to kick off a new bilateral relationship with indians to reap economic benefits...
and who says that China is a major economic and regional power and will surpass US in every terms...Dont baffle us..
now Saudi Arabians have over 5 trillion $ of investment in US and it is said that if they take out that investment the US will fall like WTC, that's why the most privileged people in US are Saudi Arabians...
China is only good at copying nothing else...

Right. China's growth rate is around 10% right now, but a great deal of that growth is due to undervalued yuan that makes Chinese exports more competitive. Plus, if the construction bubble bursts (and it will according to Jim Chanos), it will have a disastrous impact on the Chinese economy.

http://www.moneyweek.com/news-and-ch...a-bubble-10610

Brother I couldn't find the 5 Trillion figure; all I got was that Saudi investment was $400 Billion in 2008. SO maybe its around $500 Billion right now...

why china should help us ???. we are our own worst enemy. " khuda na aj tak us qoam ki halat nahi badli jis ko khud khayal na ho apni halat Badalna ka " so who are china ???

I won't go in depth. . just take a look over Pakistan's strategic location. . .don't you think one who would be attacking us would also be answerable to other 4 countries, and from those 4 , three are an atomic powers beholding nuclear weapons??? would it be so easy to attack on us?? We are very much blessed because of our location and place where we stand is very much safer in many perspectives. And as far as china's help is concern i think they will help us, recently we have took them in confidence that we will be joining Shanghai Corporation which will be a very fantastic step, though it will create some sort agitation but it nevertheless we will be secured by many of the threats. Don't you think China itself feels threat from US?? Because they aren't much powerful enough to wage any war. So i think they will be helping us and they should. For sake of their own.

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Dekha hai aino'n ko paseene se tarba tar. . .
Ya Rab! haqeeqato'n se koi aashna na ho. . .

Brother china can only help Pakistan start some infrastructure development projects like construction and maintenance of silk route and that was also for her own sake as all trade to Pakistan is done through that road...and as far as our own security is concerned...May ALLAH be withus, we don't need anyone else to save us, we can give a solid punch to any aggressor no matter whoever he is...this is exactly what Pak Army did, when coward Americans called the air support to cover the damage they received by Pak Army, you will come to know the whole story of salala attack...it has been disclosed by a highly official of Army at GHQ...

I was not talking about a military threat per se, but now that you mention it, I think China will steer clear of any conflict involving Pakistan and India or the US. First, there's a very, very small chance that war will break out between Pakistan and India or the USA. And if there is a military confrontation, China would not want to alienate either India or the USA (or Pakistan). But this is pure speculations and as I said, there's no chance of war at all.

In the article, I was only trying to drive home the point that we Pakistanis should get out of the illusion that China is our best buddy and will put Pakistan above everyone else.

Brother China does not WANT to wage war.

The 'trend' of fighting wars openly with multiple nations involved as in World Wars I & II is now obsolete. Powers are more interested in destabilizing each other by means of proxy wars. Internal instability of any country is weapon enough to deteriorate a country to a point of breaking apart. US-China relationships are not friendly and to a greater extent hostile as in the Military books and records. However, China , in order to secure her position in the region, would have to take sides if World Powers try to change the status quo of power in Asia generally and South Asia specifically.

As already stated by reverend members, it is a fact that in International Relations no two countries are eternally bound with the relationship of Friendship or Hostility. International Relations are entirely based on mere selfishness and they should be. However, the present circumstances posit that China would back Pakistan in Times of Trouble, not for Pakistan but for herself.

Regards

I agree with all of it except the part where you say that US-China relations are hostile. They may not be excessively friendly, but aren't hostile either. There is some friction between China and the US, especially on the valuation of the yuan, but I don't think that Sino-American relations can actually be termed "hostile".