As the recent four-day intense conflict between India and Pakistan highlighted China and Turkiye’s supportive role to Pakistan, the Indian foreign ministry urged both Beijing and Ankara to take note of Indian “sensibilities”, in what may perhaps seem a lame attempt to ensure that Pakistan’s main benefactors increase their distance from Islamabad.
Developments show that these are the two powers that Pakistan turns to for help, support and aid in times of need.
While India and China have engaged frequently on the Pakistan issue, India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval spoke to his Chinese counterpart on May 10 to convey India’s resolute stance against cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan. “The Chinese side is aware that mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity remain the basis of India-China relations,” India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal’s statement read on Thursday.
On Turkiye, the spokesperson said, “We expect Turkiye to strongly urge Pakistan to end its support to cross-border terrorism and take credible and verifiable actions against the terror ecosystem it has harboured for decades. Relations are built on the basis of sensitivities to each other’s concerns.”
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While Chinese fighter aircraft J-10 and the J-17, Chinese-origin air defence systems including radars and P-15 air-to-air missiles are reported to have underscored their efficacy during the short conflict, Turkish drones like Asisguard’s ‘Songer’ and Byker YIHA were used in abundance by Pakistan, indicating both prolific supplies and a stable supply chain.
But the bottom line is that India’s appeal may fall on deaf ears.
China accounts for a huge 81 per cent of Pakistan’s foreign military buys in the four-year period from 2020-2024 according to SIPRI data. The second biggest supplier of weapons, platforms and systems to Pakistan is the Netherlands with 5.5 per cent followed by Turkiye with 3.8 per cnet.
But what New Delhi needs to do is to not treat China and Turkiye on the same level and actually prioritise wherever the possibility of its voice finding some resonance is more.
India has no serious leverage with Turkiye with both countries weighing much lower in each other’s list of preference for stronger bilaterals, nor is there a notable trade relationship to write home about. In recent times, the statements issued by Ankara, including on Kashmir, had demonstrated full backing for Islamabad.
Turkiye needs Pakistan because it is an aspirant for the role of the leader in the Islamic world; hence its growing involvement in West Asian and Pakistan’s affairs including a stridently pro-Pakistani position on Kashmir.
China’s interest in Pakistan is mainly because of geo-strategic reasons including the LoC-LAC triangulation that helps China. Pakistan also provides land passage to China to reach Afghanistan and West Asia besides access to the Indian Ocean through the Gwadar port. Moreover, Pakistan is a key signatory to China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
But then again, with China, which is easily Pakistan’s biggest benefactor, there are many areas where India can take advantage of.
First, India is an economic powerhouse. To break the stranglehold of post-World War II currency and banking order, cooperation between India, China, Russia, Brazil and South Africa is a must, and there is already an up-and-ready platform for that, namely, BRICS. This is a situation India can use to its advantage.
Second, with China being primarily an exporting economy, because of tariff concerns with the US, Beijing is looking for an alternative market. India has the kind of market China is on the lookout for.
India has traditionally had close relationships with both Russia and Iran which has been further consolidated after economic sanctions were imposed on Russia. India can use its relationship with Russia and Iran to convey a message to Beijing.
