By: Fazal-ur-Rahman
As we celebrate 2011 as the year of Pakistan-China friendship, it gives us an important occasion to look back and cherish the evolution of Pak-China relations,
which have stood the test of time in the real sense of the word. The world has been continuously transforming in many ways since we established our diplomatic relationship 60 years ago. However, in our relations, nothing has changed in terms of mutual understanding, cordiality and friendship. The only change this special relationship has experienced is that it has moved from strength to strength over all these years. And today, especially after the recent visit of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, we can proudly claim that PakistanChina relations are at their highest level yet.
Assessment of trade and investment relations
During the past sixty years, our political and defence relations have developed substantively. However, expansion in our economic relations is a development of the recent past and the last decade (2000-2010) can distinctively be termed as a decade of institutionalizing Pak-China economic relations.
With the end of bi-polarity, the process of globalization gained momentum and geo-strategic priorities were reformulated in a way to give more space to geo-economic considerations. Regionalism within the processes of globalization assumed immense importance for creating regional cooperation frameworks that focus on economic integration and common development. The world has thus increasingly become interdependent in bilateral, regional and intra-regional contexts.
Pakistan and China also felt the need, towards the end of 1990s, to enhance economic cooperation in order to provide sustenance to their evolving comprehensive relations in a fast changing regional and global environment, while also continuing to upgrade the level of cooperation in other areas. Since then, the leadership of both countries has shown determination to catch up and take economic relations to a higher level that is comparable to political and defence relations.