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BOOK REVIEW : THE CHINA PAKISTAN AXIS ASIA’S NEW GEOPOLITICS Introduction1.       With both India and China making giantstrides in the economic development it is but natural that both giantneighbours will have animosity amongst them. With China aiming for unipolarAsia and multipolar world it comes as no surprise that China will do whateverit takes to contain India in order to maintain its hegemony in the region. So Chinaand Pakistan have shared antagonism with India , In the book ” The China Pakistan axis Asia’s NewGeopolitics ” the growing deep friendship between Pakistan and China hasextensively been covered and the events / circumstances leading to it .

It alsocovers the fact  as to why China iswilling to go any length to support it allweather friend Pakistan.  The book explores China’s ties with Pakistanand it’s relationship history, the Chinese assistance to Pakistan’s nuclearweapons programme , extremism in the two countries and how the future mightdevelop as the United States plans to move out of  Afghanistan. The Author2.       Andrew Small  works as a  senior transatlantic fellow with GermanMarshall Fund of the United States.

He  worked extensively on foreign and economicpolicy issues concerning China. He is presently settled in Washington D. C.

His pieces of work have been published in Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, Foreign Policy, and the Washington Quarterly, variousjournals, magazines and newspapers. This book  China-Pakistan Axis: Asia’s New Geopolitics ishis first piece of work. Andrew Small studied at  University of Oxford. 3.       During the course ofwriting this book Andrew Small could seek audience with various officials ofChina and Pakistan . Though they did not divulged any state secret but gave agood insight into the subject and book has been based on those conversations /interviews. The Book4.

The book’s introduction is followed byeight chapters and an epilogue. The book covers insights  on Beijing’s close, shrouded in mystery, and  complex ties with Islamabad , basedand founded on a shared enmity with India. In the first chapter the authordwells on the fact that how the three wars of 1962 , 1965 and 1971 played arole in fostering  this all weather friendship between Chinaand Pakistan in general and Sino-India 1962 war in particular. The wars and then the regional geo politicsdrove China towards Pakistan.  During twoindo – pak wars Pakistan would have hoped for the intervention from china butthe clear non-intervention during  1971war despite Pakistan’s repeated request suggest that the friendship may not asall-weather as Pakistan would have hoped.  It  also brings into  focus some lesser known aspects about China’s assistance to Pakistan’s use of nonstate actors  as an instrument of nationaland military strategy as well as their  support to  formenting trouble in north eastern Indiaamong the Mizos and Nagas.

5.       In chapter two the author covers theaspect of china’s assistance to Pakistan’s nuclear programme and the materialsthat Pak nuclear scientists needed to build the bomb. Pakistan also would handover sensitive US military technology whatever it could lay its hands to China. Pakistan also acted as China’s gateway to the west specially United States  during its years of diplomatic isolation.

The natureof Sino-Pak ties has geopolitics and arms at the core of their partnership, andnuclear weapons at the heart of their military relationship.  The next chapter deals with how china istrying to re-hyphenate India and Pakistan despite United States best efforts todeescalate the tensions between the two nuclear powers. It serves Chinesepurpose to keep the Indo-Pak pot simmering.    6.

The next three chapter deals withChinese own concerns regarding its own war on home grown terrorism i. e. UigyurInsurgency and The author overs Afghanistan aspect  in the chapters on the Chinese War on Terror, Trade across the roof of the world, and Tea with the Taliban, .

It confirmsthat  China has been the only countrybesides Pakistan which has maintained a continuous relationship with the topleadership of the Taliban. This also covers the aspect of  not wanting either the USA or the Taliban towin, and to an extent of  dealing withall sides.. China has been worried  aboutthe fallout of the lack of stability in Afghanistan in the post US pull outphase. Once it was clear that the prospect of US withdrawal was real, China seea bigger role for itself in the region. With the emergence of Pakistan as the principal connection for theXinjiang extremists to international terrorist networks, and again as thecountry which will face the spill over of instability in Afghanistan, stabilisingits western periphery has become a higher priority for Beijing.

7.       China sees Pakistan  at the heart of its grand strategy  to extend interconnectivity throughout in itswestern borders  with massive statefunded investments. In its lookout for allies in facilitating its global power projection, China wants Pakistan as the  real friendand its gateway to Arabian sea . China is investing heavily in the projects of  China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), whereit has pledged $62 billion over the next few years.

China expects the Pakistani government andarmy to iron out any complications coming in the way of a successful executionof the initiative. China is also trying to diversify its energy routes andreducing its dependence on the South China sea. Physical attributes 8.       The book is paperback edition with 201pages from introduction to epilogue and is reasonably priced at Rs 399 . Thebook is divided into eight chapters apart from prologur . introduction andepilogue.

Each chapter is relevant , lucid and a separate read in itself . Thenotes to the chapters and the index are clearly and well written. Conclusion 9.

The book has been able to clearly bring outthe circumstances which led  to theformation of this new political as well as military entente. Though bothsides  claim that their friendship witheach other  is of the  status of higher than the highest mountainbut at the same time China is also aware of the challenge of dealing with acountry that is both the greatest source of terrorist threats and a crucialpartner in combating it. The book finally points out that China would like to see the India-Pakistan relationshipin a state of  mistrust, where tensionscan be addressed  bilaterally, economicties may take off despite  politicaltensions while averting the full scale war.

But the fact remains that , “ Pakistan is a central part of China’stransition from a regional to a global one…and a beneficiary of the new Chinadriven geopolitical and geo economic context” .