China Invests Billions in Its ‘All-Weather Friendship’ With Pakistan | Foreign Policy

China Invests Billions in Its ‘All-Weather Friendship’ With Pakistan | Foreign Policy Just as Washington is straining to flesh out its pivot to Asia, provoked in part by worries over Chinese aggression, Beijing seems to be accelerating both the economic and security aspects of its own lurch west, with potentially big implications for India, South Asia, and the Middle East. Chinese president Xi Jinping will visit Pakistan next week bearing gifts, some $46 billion in energy and infrastructure investment deals, Reuters and other media reported Thursday. The two countries enjoy close relations, often touted as an “all-weather friendship,” and Beijing and Islamabad have talked up multi-billion dollar projects for years, involving everything from hydroelectric plants to highways. But bilateral ties are intensifying due to Pakistan’s need to short-circuit public unrest at acute energy shortages, and China’s desire to bolster the economic prospects of its own underdeveloped western provinces and find fresh opportunities as its domestic economy slams on the brakes.https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/16/china-invests-billions-in-its-all-weather-friendship-with-pakistan-silk-road-gwadar-indian-ocean/?utm_source=The+Sinocism+China+Newsletter&utm_campaign=562f93bee4-Sinocism04_19_15&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_171f237867-562f93bee4-29615013&mc_cid=562f93bee4&mc_eid=5935182a65