NEW DELHI: Amid the growing Islamabad-Beijing nexus, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria Tuesday said Pakistan has become a pawn in Chinese politics and its military dependence on China would further increase in view of the debt trap due to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
China has invested billions of dollars in CPEC as loans to Islamabad and the Pakistani administration, which is already in debt, would be under great financial pressure to repay even interest based on the current fiscal situation there.
IAF Chief RKS Bhadauria was conducting a webinar on ‘Airpower and National Security Challenges’ organized by the International Vivekanand Foundation. He said that “Pakistan has become more and more a pawn of Chinese politics, under a growing debt trap related to CPEC there will be more military dependencies in the future.”
Bhadauria said that growing uncertainty and instability on the global geopolitical front has provided China with an opportunity to demonstrate its growing power and has indirectly also highlighted the inadequate contribution of major powers to global security.
The Air Chief said that any serious conflict between India and China is not good for China on the global front.
“If Chinese aspirations are global, then it does not fit their grand plan. What could be possible Chinese goals for their action in the north? It is important that we recognize what they have really achieved,” he added.
Further developing his point on the nexus and its possible resulting impact on the region, the Chief Air Marshal said: “The US exit from Afghanistan has opened up greater options for China in the region both directly and through Pakistan.”
After staying in Afghanistan for nearly two decades, American forces are scheduled to withdraw from there soon, likely leaving the field open for other players to sneak into the turbulent region strategically located as the gateway to and from the republics. from central Asia.
Pakistan and China have developed close military ties as the entire Pakistani missile program has been fully supported by the Chinese.
Pakistanis also increasingly rely on the Chinese for their military hardware requirements, including fighter jets, submarines, and armored vehicles.
All major investments are also facilitated by the Chinese, including areas of Gilgit Baltistan and parts of Jammu and cashmere illegally occupied by Pakistan.
On the use of small drones in warfare, Bhadauria said: “The low cost and easy availability of simple disruptive technologies like drones with small state and non-state actors have made them more lethal, agile, and capable of disproportionate effects.”
In recent times, there have been conflicts such as between Azerbaijan and Armenia where the use of drones tilted the outcome of the war.
.
