Beijing is pushing Pakistan to allow its own security staff to provide protection to thousands of Chinese citizens working in the South Asian nation, during talks after a car bombing in Karachi that was seen as a major security breach, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Last month, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) carried out a suicide bombing near Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport. The BLA claimed the attack killed several Chinese nationals and injured others.
The Karachi bombing was the latest in a string of high-profile attacks on Beijing’s interests in the region, beginning in August 2018, when the BLA targeted a convoy of Chinese engineers in Dalbandin.
The frequency of attacks and Pakistan’s inability to prevent them have led to frustration in Beijing. China is now urging Pakistan to start formal negotiations on a joint security management system.
Reuters spoke to five Pakistani security and government sources with direct knowledge of the previously unreported negotiations and demands on condition of anonymity, as the talks are sensitive, and reviewed a written proposal sent by Beijing to Islamabad.
“They (Chinese) want to bring in their own security,” one official told Reuters. The official added that Pakistan has not agreed to this step.
China’s written proposal, sent to Islamabad and forwarded to Pakistani security agencies for review, included a clause allowing both countries to dispatch security and military forces into each other’s territory to assist in counter-terrorism missions and conduct joint operations, according to Reuters.
The official said that while the dispatching would occur only after discussions, Pakistani security agencies have expressed reluctance toward the proposal.
Neither Beijing nor Islamabad confirmed the talks officially.
According to Reuters, the source and two other officials said there was a consensus on setting up a joint security management system and that Pakistan was amenable to Chinese officials attending security meetings and coordination efforts.
However, no agreement has been reached regarding Chinese personnel actively participating in on-the-ground security arrangements.
The first official said that instead of direct involvement, Pakistan has requested China’s help in improving its intelligence and surveillance capabilities.
A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said they were not aware of talks on a joint security scheme. However, they added, “China will continue to strengthen cooperation with Pakistan to ensure the security of Chinese personnel, projects, and institutions.”
Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) declined to comment. Pakistan’s Interior and Planning Ministries did not respond to requests for comment.
In a statement last week, Pakistan’s interior ministry said both sides agreed to develop a joint strategy to prevent similar incidents in the future.
‘Grave Security Breach’
The nature of the Karachi bombing has angered Beijing, which is now pushing harder to achieve a long standing demand to control security arrangements for its citizens.
A pick-up truck rigged with nearly 100 kg (220 lbs) of explosives waited unchecked for about 40 minutes near the outermost security cordon of the heavily guarded airport before its driver rammed it into a vehicle carrying Chinese engineers, officials said.
“It was a grave security breach,” admitted one of the officials investigating the bombing, which came just a week before Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s visit to Islamabad, the first such trip in a decade.
The official said investigators believe the attackers had “inside help” in securing details of the itinerary and route of the engineers, who had returned from a month off in Thailand.
They were to be escorted back to a power plant set up as part of plans for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Longtime Pakistan ally China has thousands of nationals working on projects grouped under the CPEC, a $65-billion investment in President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to expand China’s global reach by road, rail and sea.
‘Chinese Frustrations’
While China has publicly supported Pakistan’s security arrangements, analysts say Beijing’s frustration is increasing.
Following the October 6 Karachi attack, Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong described the situation as “unacceptable” and urged Pakistan to more effectively address anti-China militant groups.
At a seminar last month, Jiang highlighted security as the “greatest challenge” to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). “Without a safe and sound environment, nothing can be achieved,” he said.
“It is unacceptable for us to be attacked twice in six months, and these attacks have also caused casualties,” Jiang said.
Jiang’s remarks prompted a rare response from Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, which expressed “surprise” at the ambassador’s comments, adding that they “do not reflect Islamabad and Beijing’s diplomatic tradition.”
Previously, Chinese officials have conveyed frustration in private meetings with Pakistani authorities. Reuters reported that, at one such meeting, Chinese officials provided evidence that Pakistan had twice failed to follow agreed-upon security protocols in recent months.
However, last month’s open exchange of criticism was unusual in China-Pakistan relations. Analysts say it reflects China’s growing impatience with security issues affecting its citizens in Pakistan, warning that any further attacks on Chinese nationals could severely strain relations between the two allies.
Additional input from Reuters