Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal (Apr 2021)
Pakistan-China Renewed Cooperation: Survival Strategy to Balance the United States’ Tilt towards India
Abstract
The objective of this research paper is to observe US interests in Pakistan and the region of South Asia in the post 9/11 scenario with regard to Pakistan-US alliance using Regional Security Complex (RSC) as a framework. The Pakistan-US relationship is a litany of historically divergent perceptions and interests. Despite periods of close cooperation between both countries during the Cold War and post-Cold War, their interests have waxed and waned due to US global aims and Pakistan’s discernment on superpower’s assistance or infringement on its national interests. In the US-led global war on terrorism, South Asia proved to be a battlefield, and various major powers such as China, India, Russia, and the United States intervened in Afghanistan through the process of penetration. This penetration process occurred when security alignments were made with states inside the regional security complex by major external powers to pursue their interests, as Pakistan allied with the United States. Therefore, to explain Pakistan’s behaviour and response towards US interests and threats within the South Asian security complex, Regional Security Complex theory has been used. In addition, this study discusses the survival strategies of Pakistan in response to the US interests and threats in terms of growing Indo-US nexus and China-US power politics in the region of South Asia. Lastly, this article suggests that Pakistan and the US need to identify their objectives more clearly while at the same time seeking a way to narrow the difference between their expectations and acts in the South Asian region for better relations in the future.
