Pakistan Deploys 15,000 Troops to Defend Chinese Workers

After recent attacks on Chinese nationals in Pakistan, Islamabad announced that it is deploying thousands of troops to protect Chinese workers, reports the South China Morning Post: 

Pakistan has deployed a 15,000-strong military force to protect Chinese nationals working on energy and infrastructure projects in the country, the president said on Sunday, after the abduction of a Chinese couple raised safety concerns.

President Mamnoon Hussain told visiting Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Islamabad that the protection of Chinese citizens working in Pakistan was the “top priority” of the government, according to a statement issued by the presidency.

Beijing is investing about US$50 billion in its South Asian neighbour as part of a plan unveiled in 2015 to link its far-western Xinjiang region to Gwadar port in Balochistan with a series of infrastructure, power and transport upgrades.

Hussain’s announcement comes after Islamic State terrorists kidnapped and reportedly killed a Chinese couple this month. And it is hardly the first incident of its kind: this past year, Islamabad similarly dispatched army troops and a heavy police presence to protect workers at the Chinese-managed Gwadar port, which had come under threat from Baluchi insurgents.

Both countries clearly have a lot at stake in this relationship: Pakistan is the lynchpin of Beijing’s belt-and-road infrastructure initiative, and China is becoming an essential security partner and economic lifeline for Pakistan as the United States seems poised to drift away. But if events on the ground are any indication, both sides have underestimated the risks of over-reliance on one another, and the costs of protecting their mutual investments. As Pakistan’s tribal insurgencies continue to threaten Chinese assets, both Beijing and Islamabad may find themselves committing more troops and treasure than they first expected.