It is an illustrious turn that finds itself in Beijing on the weekend: China's President Xi Jinping has invited to the Forum Silk Road, nearly 40 heads of state and government will be there, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Austria's Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, on the other hand, are not among the guests. Most come from Asia and Africa anyway. China intends to push ahead with its global investment program and above all the "New Silk Road", ie its global connection by road, rail and sea to dozens of countries.

However, the guest of honor at this major conference is Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan. Pakistan has become one of China's key partners in recent years - and is itself in an economically and politically difficult situation that relies on China.

China buys access to the Indian Ocean

Khan, a former cricket player and only since August 2018 Prime Minister of Pakistan, is already a second time guest in China: Recently, he visited the powerful neighboring country in November.

The governments of both countries speak of an "all-weather friendship" that can not shake anything. For Beijing, good relations with Pakistan have two advantages:

  • China is gaining access to the Indian Ocean through massive investments in roads, railways and the port in Gwadar, in the south of Pakistan - and may thus be present militarily where its rival dominates India.
  • In addition, China will be able to export more goods via Pakistan to the entire world and import gas from Iran via a planned pipeline.

The "China-Pakistan Economic Corridor", CPEC, a cooperation program launched in the summer of 2013, is therefore considered the flagship project of the Chinese Belt and Road project. In Pakistan alone, China has invested more than 40 billion euros in recent years. Much of this flowed into the expansion of the Karakorum Highway, the highest expressway in the world, as well as in the construction of the port of Gwadar.

Asim Hafeez / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Port of Gwadar

"China also invests in education, health and tourism in Pakistan," says Fazal ur-Rehman, China expert at Sargodha University. "You sense that China has a real interest in Pakistan developing and people are doing better here."

More and more Chinese - especially engineers, construction workers and crafts - live in Pakistan. The number of Chinese restaurants and shops selling Chinese food has increased significantly in Pakistani cities. Occasionally this leads to conflicts.

For example, alcohol is allowed in Pakistan only with special permission, which means that Chinese restaurants serving alcohol are often operated in inconspicuous private homes.

Two countries, one common enemy - India

For Pakistan, the Chinese interest is currently vital: The country has enormous economic problems, is heavily in debt and urgently needs money. In the past, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has repeatedly helped, but this has not eliminated Pakistan's structural problems. The list is long:

  • huge poverty,
  • too little economic growth,
  • too little foreign investment,
  • political instability,
  • excessive military spending,
  • Corruption,
  • under-spending on education and health.

Prime Minister Khan therefore initially rejected another IMF loan, but in the emergency he then had to fall back on it. In addition, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and China helped with billions in loans.

The military in Islamabad and Beijing work closely together

China is also a protective power for Pakistan when it comes to the common enemy India. Pakistan emerged in 1947 from the division of the Indian subcontinent when the British colonial power left the region.

Since then, Pakistan and India are in enmity, both countries are nuclear powers. Recently there was a military exchange in February. As the US gradually became a strategic ally of Pakistan, Islamabad needed a new partner. The one found in China.

Over the past decade, Pakistan has become one of the biggest buyers of Chinese weapons. "Relations between the military are strong and somewhat like the backbone of Pakistani-Chinese relations," says scientist Ur-Rehman.

Pakistan holds back criticism of China

Culturally, religiously and politically, however, the neighbors China and Pakistan could hardly be more different. The partnership is therefore more pragmatism than affection. It is the common interests that make the Alliance resilient - sometimes so much that it takes on remarkable features:

  • Pakistan sees itself as one of the largest Islamic countries as a mouthpiece for the Islamic community. A Muhammad caricature in Denmark or an anti-Muslim Youtube video from the US are enough to provoke mass demonstrations in Pakistan.
  • However, the fact that more than one million Muslim Uighurs have been detained, tortured and brainwashed in China, in Xinjiang province on the border with Pakistan, has so far not provoked any reaction in Pakistan.

The topic was "overvalued by the Western media", it was also "fight against terror" or "modernization of society," says an official in the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad.

In March, the Financial Times questioned Khan about his stance on the arbitrary detention of Uighurs in China. Khan often talks about the difficult situation of Muslims in the world, so what does he have to say about the situation of Muslims in China? Khan replied, "Honestly, I do not know much about it."