Despite China’s eschewal of formal alliances, the China-Pakistan military partnership has deepened significantly over the past decade, approaching a threshold alliance. The trajectory toward a military alliance is not, however, inevitable. But the prospects for China projecting military power over the Indian Ocean from Pakistan’s Western coast are growing.

USIP Senior South Asia Expert Sameer Lalwani’s new Special Report examines the Sino-Pakistani military relationship and where it’s headed. At a launch event, Jedidiah P. Royal, the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, provided opening remarks. Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; Bonny Lin, the director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ China Power Project; and Asfandyar Mir, a senior expert on South Asia at USIP, discuss the report.

For more information, please visit: https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/03/threshold-alliance-china-pakistan-military-relationship