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The Context The exemplary nature and contours of bilateral relationship between Pakistan and China are well-known and well-discussed both in the two countries and elsewhere at regional and global level. It is a fact, and needs little mention that the bond has withstood the ups and downs of time for more than six and half decades and continues to grow from strength to strength. The relationship, beyond any doubt, serves as a model for ties between any two states in the contemporary world.
While political and strategic aspects have been the hallmark of bilateral exchanges since very beginning of the diplomatic relations in 1951 - continuing and strengthening throughout the following decades of 60s thru 90s - we see a transformation towards closer and dynamic economic ties as well as robust people-to-people exchanges in the post 2000 scenario, the first 17 years of the 21st century. Free-Trade Area (FTA) Agreement, Currency Swap Agreement, framework agreements for economic and energy cooperation, and several initiatives for exchanges of academia, professionals, youth and students, media-persons and artists are among the key developments on this front, during this period.
The advent of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in 2013, and the formal inauguration of CPEC projects during the visit of President Xi in April 2015, has steered the ties between two countries into a new era of vitality. It goes without saying that both the countries stand to gain a lot from this mega initiative - having wide-raging economic, socio-economic as well as political and strategic dividends - especially in the long run.
The idea behind today's session titled as "Pakistan-China Relations: CPEC and Beyond" is to highlight that while the CPEC has rightly gained a symbolic status in China-Pakistan ties, it represents only one aspect of mutual relations. Bilateral ties, in reality, go well beyond the CPEC as they encompass many other important dimensions, including political and strategic ones, which are set to have a greater impact on contemporary regional and global dynamics. Thus, though CPEC has taken a center stage in the discourse at almost all the levels, China-Pakistan relations should be viewed in a much broader perspective.
Bringing focus to this dimension leads to the key element of Sino-Pak relationship which is the mutual trust and respect...