Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif said that the military relations between China and Pakistan will reached unprecedented heights, according to a statement issued on the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) website.Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif visited Bahadur Ranges (Attock) and witnessed Joint Field Exercise Warrior-III, while a senior-level Chinese military delegation under Gen Li Fayi represented People Liberation Army (PLA) on the closing ceremony of Pakistan-China special forces joint exercise for counter terrorism.Speaking on the occasion, General Raheel Sharif lauded the young soldiers for their display of professionalism and skills during the exercise and said that the exercise had boosted military relations between Pakistan and China. Special Forces of Pakistan Army and China’s PLA had conducted a seven week long exercise with focus on counter-terrorism operations. Pakistan-China defence relations are decades old and there is an understanding at the highest level to strengthen them further in view of the new regional and global scenarios. During visit of the Chinese President Xi to Pakistan in April this year, the two nations, among other things, also decided to step up dialogue between their armed forces, and expand cooperation in defence technology and production. As China is achieving excellence in different spheres of defence technology and has established its superiority in ground, air and sea defence, it is but natural that Pakistan should seek to boost military ties with Beijing as the two countries are dependable allies and have shared objectives and goals in a number of areas. Pakistan has traditionally been relying on US arms and equipment since long but in periods of crises proved, it is beyond any doubtthat Washington was not a dependable defence partner as it withheld spares and equipment when they were needed most and also imposed discriminatory sanctions against the country on different pretexts, rather for the sake of arms-twisting. As against this, China might have commercial interests but nothing more and its cooperation with Pakistan is free of conditionalities. There is growing defence disparity in South Asia with India getting assistance for entire range of military technologies including nuclear and missile from around the globe. It is but natural that Pakistan should take tangible steps to rectify this imbalance as most of the Indian military preparedness is directed against Pakistan. Military strength and equipment are not meant necessarily for use but their possession sends a loud and clear message to the enemy not to cross limits and therefore, serves the cause of peace and security. We hope that a strong and robust military relationship between Pakistan and China would help realize this noble objective.
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