All-weather relationship

The first thing Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani did on arriving in Beijing was make an obvious dig at Washington.

He told China's official news agency Xinhua that his country "appreciated" the fact that "China stood with Pakistan in all difficult circumstances.” Indeed, the two countries call themselves all-weather friends.

However, Andrew Small, a researcher at the German Marshall Fund think tank in Brussels and expert on Sino-Pakistani relations pointed out that it was important not to blow up the importance of the visit.

He said it had received a "disproportionate amount of attention given the concerns the US has about the situation in Pakistan and the questions being asked about whether Pakistan has the option to tilt more in China’s direction and deepen that relationship as a back-up if relations with the West deteriorate."

There is no doubt that Pakistan's relations with the US, its main western ally, have "deteriorated" significantly since al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in a US raid on a compound where he had been hiding in northern Pakistan.

On Monday, US Senator John Kerry demanded that Pakistan make progress against terrorism through "actions, not words" in a visit to Islamabad.

Chinese praise for Pakistan

In contrast, Chinese officials have praised Pakistan as having made very important contributions in international counter-terrorism cooperation.

China and Pakistan are expected to reaffirm their close "all-weather" friendship during Gilani's four-day stay. The two sides are set to sign a series of cooperation agreements, discuss how they can better combat extremism and address the issue of nuclear power plants.

"China has agreed to build two more reactors in Pakistan," said Small. "That is to some extent to counter-play the US-Indian nuclear deal and to show symbolically that China can do for Pakistan what the US can do for India."

However, Small did not think that very much “important” would be said regarding "strategic elements in the relationship, military cooperation and vis-a-vis India."

Nor did he think the Chinese would offer "some sort of future guarantee to Pakistan to back them up and bail them out if US aid got cut, not even privately."

Regional stability in Beijing's interest

Nonetheless, China does have a particular interest in keeping good relations with Pakistan, according to Josef Janning from the European Policy Center in Brussels.

"The whole area is complicated and burdened by a number of regional conflicts that may well spill further on into China, if you bear in mind the Kashmir issue and the whole situation between Pakistan, India and China."

Thus, he said, it was in Beijing's interest "to control any movement that could destabilize China’s west, be it through government relations or increased cooperation."

Janning added that Pakistan could also benefit from China's economic development in different ways, especially as Beijing is looking more and more for investment opportunities overseas.

Author: Ziphora Robina
Editor: Anne Thomas