We continue our special series on the US-China strategic competition this week by looking at the deepening military ties between Pakistan and China with Sameer Lalwani.

Sameer Lalwani is a senior expert on South Asia at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He is also a non-resident senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

From 2015 to 2022, Dr. Lalwani was a senior fellow for Asia strategy and the director of the South Asia program at the Stimson Center. He has also spent time as an adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs and as a Stanton nuclear security postdoctoral fellow at the RAND Corporation.

Sameer recently published a report titled A Threshold Alliance: The China-Pakistan Military Relationship which is a must-read: https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/03/threshold-alliance-china-pakistan-military-relationship

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

1:30 What is a threshold alliance?

4:50 Pakistan’s procurement of Chinese weapons

10:25 Where is the Pakistan-China relationship going?

19:30 China’s influence in Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea

29:40 Important trends to monitor

37:37 Reading recommendations