China’s Costly Mistake: How Supporting Pakistan Is Weakening Beijing On All Fronts | Exclusive

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Last Updated:May 22, 2025, 18:38 IST

China’s unfastened backing of Pakistan is costing it connected each beforehand — defence credibility, diplomatic standing, and fiscal stability

Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif with Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Reuters/File)

China’s overt enactment for Pakistan amid its struggle with India is turning into a high-stakes gamble, apical quality sources person told CNN-News18. Internally strained by a deflation-hit economy, anemic user demand, and a deepening spot crisis, Beijing is nether increasing unit to prioritise home stableness implicit risky subject entanglements.

Yet, its backing of Islamabad—diplomatically astatine the UN and done subject assistance—is opening to unravel, with superior consequences for its planetary ambitions.

Following the Pahalgam panic attack, India launched precision strikes nether Operation Sindoor, triggering a crisp subject escalation. In response, Pakistan deployed Chinese-supplied limb systems to support its strategical assets—but their show exposed superior shortcomings. The PL-15 air-to-air missiles missed their targets, and the HQ-9 aerial defence systems failed to intercept Indian strikes.

These failures person dented China’s credibility successful the planetary arms market, delivering a stroke to its hopes of entering the Tier 1 league of planetary defence exporters.

Markets responded sharply. Defence stocks specified arsenic AVIC Chengdu fell by 9 per cent. Potential buyers successful Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East are reportedly re-evaluating purchases. Myanmar has grounded its Chinese-supplied JF-17 jets, and Nigeria continues to look large attraction issues with F-7 fighters.

Intelligence sources item that China presently operates 267 satellites, with 115 focused connected surveillance, including tracking Indian subject movements. Any enlargement of this web to screen Pakistan-linked operations would dilute China’s absorption connected captious US naval movements successful the Pacific.

Strategically, Beijing’s superior concerns prevarication with asserting power implicit Taiwan and securing maritime claims successful the South China Sea. An Indo-Pakistan struggle risks dragging Beijing into a broader determination situation that could invitation US oregon ASEAN-led countermeasures successful contested waterways.

India, meanwhile, holds levers it has not yet activated. If Beijing continues to intervene successful India’s interior matters oregon refuses to condemn cross-border terrorism, New Delhi could measurement up enactment for Tibetan and Uighur activistic networks—placing further unit connected Beijing.

Economically, sustaining the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)—already a $62 cardinal investment—has go a large drain. With Pakistan’s economical illness and ongoing Baloch insurgency targeting CPEC infrastructure, extending subject assistance to Islamabad would lone deepen China’s fiscal woes.

Despite deploying implicit 50,000 troops on the LAC and pouring billions into Himalayan infrastructure, China is besides pushing up with a parallel priority—naval modernisation for operations astir Taiwan and the South China Sea. A flare-up successful South Asia would overstretch these already divided resources.

Pakistan’s increasing dependence connected Chinese weaponry and satellite-based subject enactment besides poses a reputational hazard for Beijing. Any accusation successful terror-linked operations whitethorn unfastened China up to imaginable sanctions and further diplomatic isolation.

Most significantly, China’s refusal to condemn Pakistan-backed coercion and its posturing astatine planetary platforms is pushing India person to US-led alliances similar the Quad—disturbing Beijing’s long-standing nonsubjective of keeping New Delhi neutral successful the larger East-West powerfulness rivalry.

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