With the ongoing Ukraine conflict in the backdrop, the People's Republic of China's (PRC) warming relationship with Russia is usually being bracketed as the emerging axis. But it is Pakistan that the Chinese are really the closest to. To describe the bilateral relationship, China and Pakistan call each other “iron brothers”.
This proximate relationship between the two Asian neighbours has profound implications for Indian security as it underlines India's apprehension of the creation of a two-front war scenario. India has already fought three wars with Pakistan and a widespread conflict around Kargil in 1999. Besides thwarting a deep intrusion in 1962, the Indian army is currently engaged in an ongoing border face-off with China's PLA since April 2020.
Now a US document 'China Military Power Report 2023' released on Thursday, describes the bilateral ties even better. The report says: “Despite its encompassing rhetoric, the PRC uses nomenclature to implicitly rank its level of 'partnership'. For example, the PRC ranks Pakistan as its only “all-weather strategic partner,” Russia as its only “comprehensive strategic partner with coordination relations,” and other countries such as Brazil and various states in South and Southeast Asia holding “all-round strategic partnership relations.”
China may also be considering Pakistan, among a host of other countries as a location for PLA military logistics facilities. The PLA's Strategic Support Force also operates tracking, telemetry, and command stations in Pakistan, besides Namibia, Argentina, and Kenya. Besides other mandates, it is the SSF's brief to track satellite and ICBM launches.
China has been undertaking systemic military reforms in order to transform the PLA into a “world-class” military by 2049. The PLA also has set a 2027 milestone for modernization “to accelerate the
integrated development of mechanization, informatization, and intelligentization of the PRC’s armed forces.”
There have been several other notable military milestones in terms of weapons and platforms—like mass-producing and undertaking upgrades of the J-20 fighter aircraft which has been fitted with the indigenous WS-10 aero-engines, deploying the Y-20 heavy transport aircraft, and speeding up development of the H-20 flying wing stealth bomber.
In the Indian context, the deployment of Type 15 light tanks in the mountainous border region between the two countries is of significance. On the naval front, there is an ongoing PRC effort to expand the submarine force to 65 units by 2025 and 80 units by 2035. At the moment, the Chinese Navy operates six nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN), six nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSN), and 48 diesel-powered/air-independent powered attack submarines (SS).
