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Pak's change of guard worries China
BEIJING: The Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) choice of Raja Pervez Ashraf as the candidate to replace the disqualified PM Yusaf Raza Gilani is that of a stranger to China, the country Pakistan refers to as its all-weather friend.
Raja Ashraf in his maiden speech to parliament on Friday used the standard hyperbole that Pakistani politicians reserve for China. "Pakistan's friendship with China is higher than mountains and China has helped us in every hour of need and we would further enhance it," he said.
However, the Chinese leaders though have strong reasons to worry about the changed circumstances in Islamabad. Ashraf is almost an unknown commodity to Beijing and he would be the first Pakistani PM since the Nawaz Sharif regime in the 1990s to be in that unchartered area with respect to China.
Ashraf has not visited Beijing in the past several years. This is significant because Pakistani politicians including President Asif Ali Zardari and former PM Yusaf Raza Gilani have been visiting China several times a year and developing their relationship with the Chinese government and the Communist Party's different agencies.
Gilani's departure is a huge loss for China because it has invested heavily in developing a close relationship with him and with Zardari. Beijing is said to be seriously-worried because Zardari's future remains in doubt.
The changing situation will be closely-watched in New Delhi because China banks on its relationship with Pakistani leaders to work out strategies concerning its relationship with India. Pakistani is known to get encouragement from China to continuously to harp on the Kashmir issue to keep India under pressure. The Zardari-Gilani tenure has seen Pakistan coming closer to China and drifting away from the US.
Pak's change of guard worries China - The Times of India