New Delhi: India will host the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting to be held in Goa on May 4-5, 2023. The SCO is essentially made up of nine countries: China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. As the newest member, Iran will participate in the group as a member rather than an observer for the first time under the Indian presidency.
It is worth noting that India assumed the presidency of the 9-member group for one year in September 2022. The summit will provide a platform for India and other member countries to discuss multilateral cooperation amid rising tensions due to the Russia-Ukraine war and border disputes.
The Indian presidency at the current SCO meeting, however, has not gone well for its two immediate neighbours: China and Pakistan. Both are busy spreading cock and bull stories about India. This is made clear by the four-day official visit of Pakistan's army chief, General Asim Munir, to China just before the SCO meeting.
Furthermore, the Pakistani military's public relations agency, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), confirmed Munir's visit by saying that Munir had visited the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and had a detailed discussion with the PLA commander on regional stability and military cooperation.
Are China and Pakistan planning something ahead of SCO meeting?
This visit by Pakistan’s chief to China was confirmed after the Chinese Defence Minister, General Li Shangfu’s visit to India for attending the SCO meeting was confirmed. This shows that Pakistan and China are planning something unpleasant with regard to the SCO meeting in general and Indian interests in particular. Undoubtedly, both states were upset with the G-20 summit held in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan has been actively trying to prevent the G-20 summits from taking place in Jammu and Kashmir with the help of its allies. It has been pressuring its G-20 allies, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and China, to prevent Srinagar from hosting the meeting. Pakistan has also spread the myth that India is trying to legitimize its control over Jammu and Kashmir. While the people of Jammu and Kashmir are excited that the G-20 meeting will be held there, Pakistan has naively spread false information to the rest of the world.
China's growing concerns over India's rise
Similarly, China is upset at the way India is intruding into world politics and becoming a major player in the current world order. China sees India as a major threat to its ambitions of becoming a major power in the world. Kanti Bajpai, in his book India Versus China: Why They Are Not Friends, writes that the Chinese believe that they can deal with India with the help of Pakistan. China believes Pakistan can counterbalance India, and they will only concentrate on finding a way to surpass American dominance. This clarifies why China is investing enormous sums of money in Pakistan. Additionally, they are strategically opposing India by leveraging Pakistan.
This exposes the purpose of the Pakistani army chief's trip to China very clearly. China is urged by Pakistan to obstruct the G-20 summit in Jammu & Kashmir. China also wants Pakistan to stop India from becoming a major player in international politics. Both states strive to impede India's progress and expansion and have anti-Indian agendas. However, some analysts have given a new twist to the Pakistan army chief's visit. They believe that military intervention is taking place in his country because the country's economic, political, and legal situation is critical. This seems to be just a rumour that is fast doing the rounds in Pakistan.
Another group of analysts contend that the visit of the army leader to China coincided with appallingly poor relations between the two countries. Solitary detention and allegations of radicalism and blasphemy made against a Chinese engineer by the police are the most recent issues to put the all-weather partnership to the test. Moreover, the experts claim that Beijing is also upset with Islamabad for its financial sloppiness in the massive CPEC collaboration, where Islamabad has not upheld its end of the financial bargain and has also withheld payments to Chinese power businesses. This episode is only one of Beijing's grievances with Islamabad.
Why China is upset with Pakistan?
Beijing is also upset with Pakistan's successive administrations for failing to protect its citizens who have been targeted by rebel organizations in Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan's instability led to the closure of Chinese firms in Karachi since the country was unable to guarantee their security.
Be that as it may, both Pakistan and China are hell-bent on obstructing India's rise in the present global order. And the Pakistan Army Chief's visit is essentially to concoct things in this direction and obstruct India's rise as fast as possible. However, given that India today plays a significant role in world affairs, this is not viable. Additionally, Pakistan must also turn within and realise that its fatal flaw is the "miltablishment" that controls every significant industry and persistently stokes resentment towards India by portraying Pakistan's military as the last line of defence against India's alleged aspirations to engulf Pakistan.
