Webinar terms Pak, China partnership symbiotic vis-a-vis national security

Islamabad : The experts speaking at a webinar said that the interdependence for Pakistan and China has increased in the given geopolitical circumstances in the region. Common interests of both countries are intertwined now whether they are of human security in the era of pandemic, socio-economic or strategic alliance to counter the increasing US-Indian collaboration against China.

Taking over the lead position on the two UN Security Council committees namely Taliban sanctions and Terrorism, India will be having more space to fiddle around the geopolitical situation in the region.

They said that Pakistan and China have to be more efficient and vigilant about the emerging situation and act more wisely in the coming days. Both countries might be having more difficult situations as India is expected to have hegemonic interventions in the region including undue interference in Afghanistan.

The webinar ‘Pakistan-China partnership for national security’ was organised by the Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) on Sunday.

Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed and Lieutenant General (r) Talat Masood were the keynote speakers. A senior journalist from Washington Anwar Iqbal, Executive Director Devcom-Pakistan Munir Ahmed, Prof Sarwat Kazmi and development expert Azhar Qureshi also spoke on the occasion.

Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said with India as chair of the UNSC Taliban Sanctions Committee, the conflict in the region is feared to rise up. Pakistan needs to take China along with Iran onboard very sincerely on the Afghanistan peace process where Taliban has to be given due share in the governance for the sustainability of peace in the region.

At the moment, The US is supporting India by all means at the moment as it is for the love of India but to strengthen a new proxy war agent against China. The strength of the region lies in unity beyond pity differences and conflicts.

Senator Mushahid said President Donald Trump’s policies have weakened the US economic streams, and same is the case with the western countries. Now, the balance of power is shifting to the east, and we the countries in Asia including central and south need to act smartly and stand united. The stronger countries have to lead the alliance whether it is form or informal in nature. In the emerging situation, Pakistan and China both need each other more than any time in the past. They need to increase their collaboration in all fields sooner than later.

Lieutenant General (r) Talat Masood said strategic convergence of Pakistan and China is vital for the national security of Pakistan, economic stability and regional peace. China has proved to be a reliable partner in all the moments of need. So we trust them in future as well. But we need to make our system efficient enough to match the pace of Chinese one. National security for Pakistan is just not strengthening the defence system, we need to focus on socio-economic development. He said we need to improve our defence capability that should be based on the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) instead of purchasing weapons for conventional war. The CPEC phase-2 is said to be launched for Chinese collaboration in agriculture and industry. It should have major initiatives in AI capacity building for defence systems and against cyber-attacks and to face the challenges of drone technology being used against Pakistan.