Pakistan continues to play pivotal role in China's South Asia policy and India "must accept" this "enviable friendship" as Beijing cannot scale down its ties with Islamabad merely because of New Delhi's feelings, an official daily said on Thursday.
The high-profile welcome received by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang with JF-17 fighter jets escorting his plane and president and prime minister of Pakistan in attendance at the airport to receive him reflects all-weather ties, state-run Global Times said in its editorial.
"The relationship between India and China has grown broader while the Sino-Pakistan relations have gained depth," said the tabloid daily attached to the ruling Communist Party of China.
"Pakistan's importance to China has never been weakened despite its relatively turbulent political situation and slower economic development compared with China and India in recent years. Pakistan will play a pivotal role in China's South Asian strategy," it said, two days after Li concluded his maiden visit to India, his first foreign tour after assuming office in March.
Observing that "developing friendly cooperation with both India and Pakistan, a pair of neighbours with many disputes, meets the interests of China" and the region, the tabloid said China played a positive role in the continuous easing of the relationship between India and Pakistan.
"China has not played balancing strategy, using one country against the other," it said, denying widely held perception that Beijing secretly helped Islamabad to master nuclear technology.
"These suspicions are groundless but cannot easily be dispelled," it admitted.
"China will not exploit Pakistan as a political card to play. This should be considered part of the mutual understanding between China and India," it said.
"However, India must accept and adapt to the enviable friendship between China and Pakistan, which is not aimed at any third party and has no upper limit. China cannot scale down this relationship merely because of India's feelings," it said.
"The strategic value of the Sino-Pakistani relationship is also of regional significance. It is conducive to the stability of western China and can also assist, rather than harm, the Sino-Indian relationship on the whole," it said.
"The friendly relationship between China and Pakistan is a part of China's soft power. The more friends we have, the more active we will be in making other friends," the daily said.
It said the urgent priority for Pakistan is the full realisation of national peace and stability and developing its economy.
A prosperous, vibrant Pakistan will be an emerging market for a large number of Chinese companies, it said, adding that "an economically vibrant Pakistan will be conducive to geopolitical balance in South Asia."
"Although we always use the phrase 'friends' to describe China and Pakistan, we have not devoted as much energy to South Asia as we have to East Asia," it said.
"China's input in Pakistan must not be short-term or exploitative. We must not underestimate Pakistan which is temporarily at an ebb. Efforts we put into Pakistan today will be strategically rewarded in future," it said.
"South Asia is a relatively weak link in China's peripheral strategy, but without a doubt it also has huge diplomatic potential for China. It's time for China to seriously do something to develop South Asia politically and economically," it added.
