China is now a Huge Corporation Only not the Red Dragon

As a Pakistani, we have all felt blessed to see China claim us as its very close friend. We call ourselves a friend of all weathers. Unfortunately, a friend in need is the only friend indeed. Pakistan has played a pivotal role in advancing relations of China with USA helping it improve its trade. Despite all our issues with US foreign policy, we cannot negate the fact that it is the most lucrative & profitable consumer market today. What sells for $10 anywhere else on Earth sells for $100 in USA. During the last 3 years of Trump's Presidency, we have seen China lose this market significantly due to Trump's specific targeting of Chinese rising economic influence. This was his campaign promise to force China to kneel on its knees. Guess what! China has started to kneel on its knees now. Losing a market of 320 million American consumers who love to consume played a pivotal role in China bending its rules on Kashmir. Instead of a fiery red dragon, China now decided to safeguard its corporate interests by exploring alternative markets that could absorb the shocks its economy has started to feel from Trump's tantrums. We now have a situation where China has stocks of products from its factories but not enough buyers. China will face a massive fiscal loss if it does not find an alternative buyer shortly. So, What does it do? It runs to India despite its skirmishes over Kashmir to save its factories from going bankrupt.

While we thought we would always be a priority on China's list due to the golden CPEC, we are now at a dead end alone in our struggle for the freedom of Kashmir. China wants to save its factories & thousands of workers even if it means giving up on the cause of Kashmir. While Pakistan's prejudiced mainstream media may narrate a different perspective, actions always speak louder than words. President Xi's latest visit to India speaks volumes on who is China's priority now? It is not Kashmir or Pakistan or even CPEC.

It is to save the Corporation from going bankrupt that has millions of workers who need to be paid their salaries & who need to have their products sold in time. While talks with Trump remain in a state of limbo, China is now hoping to save the day by tapping into the 1 billion consumer potential of India that has a decent purchasing power.

While we were trying to babysit CPEC at an enormous cost of resources & human life to have our best friend China have access to warm waters of Gwadar alienating old allies like USA in the process, we now have no tangible support for Kashmir from either China or USA. We fought war against terrorism in Afghanistan for USA for a decade but due to CPEC, we lost significant leverage in the US Congress that claims CPEC to be a tool of China's military ambitions in S China Sea. While India has been courting USA all this time using CPEC as an excuse to its complete advantage promoting an Indo-Pacific US-India alliance against China & offering a military base to USA in Ladakh, China has put all these misadventures of India aside only to sell its products. What does that make China if no more than a large corporation that is too big to go bankrupt now & needs a bail out even if it comes from its arch-rival. In the interim, Pakistani officials remained complacent that CPEC could guarantee them complete Chinese co-operation in any combat confrontations with India. Looks like this is NOT the case any longer.

We do really interesting things. We fight super-powers wars for them against their rivals making their rivals our enemies too for a few breadcrumbs. But, this leads to long-term economic slump & over-all destabilisation. We did this in 2001 vowing to fight for USA in Afghanistan making China & Russia very angry. We did this in 2008 by allowing China to have access to warm waters against USA making USA very angry. We have managed to make all super-powers very angry consequently. So today, no one supports us for Kashmir & we stand alone wondering what did we do wrong?

I have been warning our officials of dual policy of China since day one. I knew this was coming. I was seeing China's behaviour move like a pendulum at international fronts. The Uighur issue is a separate concern that obviously makes no sense but we have seen already what the Monks of Burma are doing to the Rohingya muslims. Am I implying that religious fervour in China against muslims is rising? Maybe it is. What we see is the smoke only. No one can tell how big is the fire in Uighur if there is any fire as claimed by the western journalists. But, I have cautioned President Xi many times that a muslim will never tolerate any kind of oppression so if he has some people powerful enough to promote an anti-Islam agenda, he needs to de-energize them before he loses an entire state to a civil crisis that erupts out of such an oppression. Considering the fact that this province is where CPEC originates; if this destabilises we are looking at NO access to China via CPEC anymore. Isn't that the mission of US Congress all this time? To sabotage CPEC at all costs. Looks like mission is almost accomplished.

Have you ever had a friend whom you would do anything for but he always looks at what is best for him before he responds with as much enthusiasm? China is one such friend of ours right now. I offered to mediate a truce between China & USA to defuse the entire proxy aggression in SE Asia emanating out of their hostilities against one another. But, looks like that doesn't matter any more. Its too late to pursue a friendship between USA & China now because the Red Dragon has already kneeled before those who carved the Indo-Pacific alliance to contain it.

So what should we do for Kashmir now? It is still suffering from 10 weeks of harsh curfew & looks like BJP is obsessed with occupying AJK now. Turkey is busy fighting the Kurds. Iran has a bucket of worms to deal with itself in Yemen while Trump has imposed extreme sanctions on Iran. All the GCC countries are trying to save their interests & Royal houses. UK struggling for a Brexit to save its economy going down the drain with European Union's extravagant bail outs of some bankrupt members. USA is one unpredictable mess with multiple parallel governments trying to run it at the same time. OIC is dysfunctional as always. Russia is also extremely unpredictable at present moving like a pendulum having a strong MIC of its own. So who is there for Pakistan over Kashmir? Technically No ONE except Allah. I say Allah because as per our faith we are obligated to help the Kashmiris not just with words but with Jihad as well. When I say Jihad, it implies combat battle against the oppressor. We should have launched a military response on 5th August. Our delay has already cost us many lives of Kashmiri civilians. It has also allowed RSS-guided BJP to launch an extraordinary diplomatic offensive against us culminating into loss of our key allies like China. Had we responded to 5th August on 5th August in a language that any terrorist understands & that RSS would understand, China would have joined us & supported us 100%. Now, we are not a priority of China anymore. India is. Our delayed response is only making our opponents stronger & louder. I predicted this a few weeks back & I reiterate. Our delay in response to RSS will not just make us lose AJK soon but it will get us nuked by India also. Imran Khan is just a politician who will make up a story & fool the public into believing that it was not his fault. It will be COAS General Qamar Bajwa who will have to face the public wrath when AJK gets occupied after forceful annexation of IOK by India. Imran Khan will get away with dirty politics like Bhutto did in 1971. But, Pakistanis will not forgive seven generations of General Qamar Bajwa for losing Kashmir to India like Yahya Khan lost East Pakistan.

-Dr FAB, MD

Chairperson

PakIslam Positive League

Free Kissan Free Pakistan

Friends of Kashmir & Gaza