Another term for China’s President Xi Jinping would be welcomed in Pakistan
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The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that began its week-long session on 16 October 2022 in Beijing is being seen as an event of immense importance. It is expected to grant President Xi Jinping a third term, reset the Central Committee and the politburo and advance new policies in the economic, political and ideological domains that will impact the trajectory of China at a moment of cataclysmic changes in the international environment.
The United States has declared China a peer competitor. It has unleashed a string of measures to retard China’s rise. The whole spectrum threat that China is deemed to pose to Washington’s rules-based order has warranted forward deployments of multiple layered forces and networks of maritime defense arrangements in the so called free and open Indo-Pacific. The Quad and AUKUS being the pioneering moves. NATO is also contemplating a common position against China.
Added to this is the economic string that has meant a disruption of global supply chains and trade wars. Recent US measures such as the banning of semi-conductors to China and possible sanctions against Americans working in China are elements of an approach that are intensifying the new cold war between US and China. Geopolitical actions supplemented by geoeconomic measures paint a grim picture. President Biden has declared that the US will win the competition in Asia.
The turmoil that is being created today as a geopolitical response to China’s well deserved rise is seen as unnecessary and deeply polarizing in Pakistan.
Salman Bashir
The 20th National Congress of the CPC is expected to reaffirm its faith in the policies of President XI Jinping by giving him another term as the General Secretary and President of the country. The power configuration of the Central Committee will be changed and President XI’s loyalists are likely to be reinstated in key positions. The ideological line is going to be deepened with the Party being in charge of political and economic policies. This is more to the left than the left. Deng’s vision of China opening up is going to be restricted. Urgent issues such as the economic slowdown, zero covid policy and the western political and economic onslaught is likely to receive close attention.
President Xi Jinping’s thoughts are likely to be consecrated. The peaceful reunification of Taiwan with the motherland, the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation by 2049 and a whole string of ultra nationalist themes are likely to get prominence. China will embark on a strong nationalist course with Xi Jinping at the core. Jinping has accelerated the country’s historic march towards regional power, military might, technological superiority and global standing.
Pakistan welcomes the convening of the Party Congress. It will also welcome the decisions meant to lift China’s prestige and weight in the international environment. They have been all-weather friends and irrespective of internal or external environments, have trusted each other and worked to strengthen their time tested relations. Pakistan considers China to be its closest friend and does not buy into the logic of the cold war and despondency that is in evidence today. Pakistan hopes to get across the temporary hurdles that exist today and work for the realization of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Pakistan and China have complementary views on the situation in South Asia. China’s rise as a global power is what Pakistan respects, and believes that Beijing is now increasingly in a position to influence the world, especially developing countries. The turmoil that is being created today as a geopolitical response to China’s well deserved rise is seen as unnecessary and deeply polarizing. US-India military deals to contain China are opportunistic. It is evident that the 20th Party Congress will consider all aspects of the situation and provide a suitable response.
- Salman Bashir is a Pakistani diplomat who served as Foreign Secretary of Pakistan and as High Commissioner of Pakistan to India.
Twitter: @Salman_B_PK
