Filippo Boni, Sino-Pakistani Relations: Politics, Military and Regional Dynamics
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Sino-Pakistani Relations: Politics, Military and Regional Dynamics, Filippo Boni (London & New York: Routledge, 2020), 186p. $124.77 hardback; $38.46 eBook Ghulam Ali 1 Accepted: 6 November 2020/ # Journal of Chinese Political Science/Association of Chinese Political Studies 2020
In spite of divergent socio-political systems, cultures and ideologies, China and Pakistan have maintained a strong bilateral relationship which has withstood changes in internal politics and foreign policies of these two countries amid the altering regional and global contexts. Despite this special relationship, it has received relatively little academic attention. It is only in the 21st century, and especially following the launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), that a larger literature has emerged. Filippo Boni’s Sino-Pakistan Relations, based on his PhD research, is therefore a timely contribution. Rather than examining Beijing-Islamabad co-operation from the perspective of international relations, Boni takes the role of the Pakistani military into account in the making of a durable relationship with China. Given Pakistani military’s deep involvement in national affairs, this perspective makes a significant academic contribution. In his introductory chapter, Boni explains that border and territorial disputes with Afghanistan and most especially with India, India’s size and its large armed forces, and the outbreak of the first Indo-Pakistan war in 1948, at a time Pakistan did not have a regular army, shaped Pakistan’s security outlook and handed its armed forces a significant role in national security. In chapter 2, the author assesses Pakistan’s case by putting it in larger theoretical debate on civil-military relations in global context, and concludes that the security was the key reason behind Pakistani military’s gaining greater say in national strategy. The Chapter 3 examines the growth of the SinoPakistan relationship from the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1951 until 9/11. Chapters 4 to 6, focus on Gwadar Port, CPEC and Afghanistan respectively from post-9/11 to the end of 2018. In these chapters, the author juxtaposed the role of the military with the political leadership to determine the level of influence. He examines four key areas namely security; foreign policy, economic policy and elite recruitment – * Ghulam Ali [email protected]
1
School of Marxism, Department of Political Science, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Zigong, China
G. Ali
all these with reference to China. The security included security of Chinese expatriates and companies in Pakistan; foreign and economic policies involving investments and contracts including CPEC and Gwadar; elite recruitments referred to those key administrative and diplomatic positions with direct link to China-Pakistan relations. For the measurement of role of influence, the author used three-level scale, low, medium and high. These chapters cover important areas: The Gwadar Port is significant from a strategic point of view; the CPEC is the
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