NEW DELHI, Dec 29: Pakistan has increasingly become a pawn of China and the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan has opened options for Beijing to expand its influence in the region through Islamabad, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria said today.
In an address at a seminar organised by think-tank Vivekananda International Foundation, he said Pakistan’s dependence on China is going to increase as the country is set to reel under a Chinese debt-trap.
Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria said India’s “most important” national security challenge is to understand China, its “possible game plan” and the deepening and evolving Sino-Pak relationship.
“Pakistan has increasingly become a pawn in Chinese policy. Under an increasing CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) related debt trap, we are going to witness further military dependencies in the future,” he said.
“The US exit from Afghanistan has opened increased options for China in the region — both direct and through Pakistan — allowing it a possible entry into Central Asia, a region that they have been eyeing for long,” the IAF chief added.
The Air Chief Marshal said coercion and economic dependence are being used as tools for making weaker countries accept one-sided actions, in an apparent reference to China.
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