On Wednesday, China, Iran and Pakistan held their first trilateral consultation on counterterrorism and security at the ministerial level, during which they exchanged views on regional counterterrorism efforts and preventing the cross-border movement of terrorists. They also decided to hold the consultations regularly.
Most analysts agree that the meeting focused on the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which operates in Pakistan and has long opposed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
Balochistan Province, in southwestern Pakistan on the border with Iran, covers 40 percent of Pakistan’s territory and has a population of more than 12 million, more than half of whom belong to the Baloch ethnic group. Dissatisfaction about being ruled by Pakistan’s main ethnic group, the Punjabis, has sparked armed protest movements since Pakistan gained its independence from Britain in 1947.
When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, it instigated anti-government activities in Pakistan to prevent Islamabad from supporting Afghanistan, which led to the establishment of the forerunners of the BLA. The Baloch independence movement quieted down after the Soviet Union broke up, but after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the movement received funding from the US in exchange for providing intelligence about the Taliban.
The CPEC, which the BLA is intent on blocking, is the biggest single-country investment project under China’s Belt and Road Initiative. It aims to build a railway connecting Kashgar in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region with Gwadar Port in Balochistan, stretching 3,000km and spanning nine special economic zones. The railway is expected to open in 2040, enabling goods from northwestern China to be exported via Gwadar Port. The plan also includes roads, oil and gas pipelines, and fiber-optic cable systems in areas along the route, as well as an expansion of Gwadar Port, entailing an estimated US$60 billion in investment.
After the CPEC project was proposed, the BLA retaliated against Chinese in Pakistan, targeting travelers, workers and diplomatic personnel.
From the BLA’s point of view, Pakistan’s central government could not exercise deep control over the province.
However, once the CPEC’s railway and roads are completed, Islamabad’s forces would be able to reach everywhere.
From China’s point of view, the project would help resolve the “Malacca dilemma,” which refers to China’s overdependence on shipping lanes passing through the Strait of Malacca. This makes the CPEC indispensable for China.
China has sidestepped the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) multilateral cooperation mechanism to engage directly with stakeholder countries. The SCO, which was established in 2001 under the leadership of China and Russia, lists counterterrorism as one of its main goals. Its other members were originally only Central Asian countries, but it has gradually expanded in the past few years. Pakistan joined in 2017 and Iran in January.
However, on this occasion China chose not to go through SCO channels. Its intention might have been to avoid possible intervention by Russia and India, which are members of the group.
India has always been at odds with Pakistan on the issue of sovereignty over Kashmir, so it wants to disrupt Pakistan’s internal affairs by supporting the BLA.
Russia has long been a rival of China for leadership at the SCO. More recently, Moscow has become embroiled in its invasion of Ukraine, making China more inclined to disregard Russia and take regional affairs into its own hands.
Yang Chung-hsin is a civil servant in Taichung.
Translated by Julian Clegg
US President Donald Trump has gotten off to a head-spinning start in his foreign policy. He has pressured Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States, threatened to take over the Panama Canal, urged Canada to become the 51st US state, unilaterally renamed the Gulf of Mexico to “the Gulf of America” and announced plans for the United States to annex and administer Gaza. He has imposed and then suspended 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for their roles in the flow of fentanyl into the United States, while at the same time increasing tariffs on China by 10
Trying to force a partnership between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and Intel Corp would be a wildly complex ordeal. Already, the reported request from the Trump administration for TSMC to take a controlling stake in Intel’s US factories is facing valid questions about feasibility from all sides. Washington would likely not support a foreign company operating Intel’s domestic factories, Reuters reported — just look at how that is going over in the steel sector. Meanwhile, many in Taiwan are concerned about the company being forced to transfer its bleeding-edge tech capabilities and give up its strategic advantage. This is especially
US President Donald Trump last week announced plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on eight countries. As Taiwan, a key hub for semiconductor manufacturing, is among them, the policy would significantly affect the country. In response, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) dispatched two officials to the US for negotiations, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) board of directors convened its first-ever meeting in the US. Those developments highlight how the US’ unstable trade policies are posing a growing threat to Taiwan. Can the US truly gain an advantage in chip manufacturing by reversing trade liberalization? Is it realistic to
Last week, 24 Republican representatives in the US Congress proposed a resolution calling for US President Donald Trump’s administration to abandon the US’ “one China” policy, calling it outdated, counterproductive and not reflective of reality, and to restore official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, enter bilateral free-trade agreement negotiations and support its entry into international organizations. That is an exciting and inspiring development. To help the US government and other nations further understand that Taiwan is not a part of China, that those “one China” policies are contrary to the fact that the two countries across the Taiwan Strait are independent and
RSS