[mks_button size=”medium” title=”By: Nadeem F. Paracha” style=”squared” url=”#” target=”_self” bg_color=”#8224e3″ txt_color=”#FFFFFF” icon=”” icon_type=”” nofollow=”0″]
Ask any Pakistani about Pak-China relations and it is likely that they would respond by saying that the Pak-China friendship has been a reality from the moment the Chinese communists defeated the nationalists and set up a communist state in 1949.
Indeed, in 1951, Pakistan became the first Muslim country to recognise communist China (People’s Republic of China or PRC). But before that, Pakistan had also set up diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (ROC) which was formed by the defeated Chinese nationalists and would be known as Taiwan.
It was the ROC that was recognised by the US, and a majority of Western governments kept the PRC out of the United Nations for over a decade. Yet, it was India which had recognised communist China almost a year before Pakistan did so. What’s more, India was also one of the first countries to snap ties with the ROC, something Pakistan would do a year later.
A history of early Pak-China relations shows that India and the US were key players and catalysts in forming ties that exist today