, Columnist
China Repeats West's Mistakes in Pakistan
Billions in investments could make the country more, not less unstable.
Avoiding the "Malacca dilemma"?
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When President Xi Jinping announced in 2015 that China would pump $46 billion worth of investments into Pakistan, the recipients of his largesse seemed less surprised than one might have expected. The military and political elites of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan have long extracted aid from outside powers in return for keeping a lid on things at home. As far back as April 1948, barely eight months after independence, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan assured Pakistani military commanders that three-quarters of the new nation’s budget would be devoted to defense -- fully expecting that the U.S. would underwrite the pledge.