Islamabad: In a bid to counter the strategic embrace between India and the United States, Pakistan has moved forward to seal a long-term defence pact with its all-weather ally China.
Pakistan's federal cabinet, chaired by PM Nawaz Sharif, gave a go ahead to signing of such a deal with China. The meeting reportedly took place on July 15 at the Governor House in Lahore.
The cabinet was informed that the draft agreement was based on principles of mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity, sovereignty, non-integration and non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and cooperation for mutual benefits, and peaceful coexistence for strategic gains in defence and security, including arms and technology transfers.
It was also informed that input from ministries of foreign affairs, interior and defence production as well as the Joint Staff Headquarters had been obtained and incorporated in the draft agreement which was subsequently vetted by the law and justice division.
In April 2015, when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Pakistan, the two countries agreed that their relationship had acquired greater strategic significance against the backdrop of complex and changing international and regional situations.
They agreed to elevate the Pakistan-China relationship to the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.
The reports of defence agreement surfaced a week after the US signed a key logistics agreement with India governing the use of each other's land, air and naval bases for repair and resupply.
Pakistan had called the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement between the US and India as an agreement between the two sovereign states and hoped it would contribute to peace and stability.
"Pakistan would like to see that such arrangements do not contribute to polarising the region by disturbing the strategic balance in South Asia and escalating the arms buildup," Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria told a news briefing last week.
With PTI inputs
