In what has come to be an ignominious development for China-Pakistan relationship, a group of Chinese engineers, posted for the construction of M4 Motorway from Bahawalpur to Faisalabad, thrashed a group of policemen on April 4, after they were barred from leaving their residential camps without security. Video clips gone viral on social media showed Chinese engineers having an altercation with the police in Khanewal district of Punjab province, then beating them up and a Chinese national standing atop a police vehicle. These videos have laid bare the propaganda of Pakistan-China friendship being “higher than mountains, deeper than ocean and sweeter than honey”, which had been running for years.

This is not the first time that the Chinese nationals posted in Pakistan have been engaged in such rowdy behaviour. In 2016, in Multan, a group of Chinese engineers had beaten up policemen including the area police chief. The group was reportedly trained in Chinese marshal art Kung Fu and had attacked and injured the police personnel. But the police had refrained from taking action, to avert further hostilities and diplomatic embarrassment.

Pakistani press reported the Chinese nationals in Khanewal wanted to leave their camp and visit a “red-light” area. When they were denied permission to leave the camp without being accompanied by security officials, the Chinese nationals resorted to agitation and subsequently the beating. One may remember that in 2007 the siege of the Lal Masjid in Islamabad had begun after a group of Pakistani extremists kidnapped seven Chinese nationals, including five prostitutes for ‘immoral activities’. It was this kidnapping which had prompted the Chinese leaders to pressurise Pakistan to take counter action, which subsequently took the form of the Lal Masjid operation. Till date the Lal Masjid remains a watershed in Pakistan on two counts. Firstly, how the extremists have been able to make the place of worship as a fortress at the heart of Islamabad. And secondly, it remains a textbook case how the generals of the Pakistan Army were nudged by Beijing to take a military action, though years after years Pakistan’s neighbours present the proof that Pakistan’s soil has been used as terror sanctuaries to fund, train and plan terror attacks across the border.     

The Khanewal incident comes in the backdrop of growing tensions between China and Pakistan, with incidents in other parts of Pakistan, creating awkward moments for the bilateral relationship. In Karachi, just a few weeks ago, on February 5, a senior Chinese executive working with a private shipping firm was shot dead in broad daylight in the city’s upscale neighbourhood, prompting concerns on the safety of the Chinese nationals. In another incident, residents of Gilgit Baltistan (earlier known as Northern Areas) threatened to close off the border with China, if the latter does not release over 50 women of Chinese origin married to the local men, who have been suspected to be detained in the neighbouring Xinjiang province.

For China and Pakistan, incidents such as these come at a time when there is growing disquiet within Pakistan over the Chinese investments as the country navigates a difficult regional and international landscape. The increased international scrutiny of its Army’s flirtations with the terrorist and extremist groups of all hues and the potential isolation that the listing on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) watch list entails, has sparked a debate in the country on who are its real friends. It doesn’t help that both China and Saudi Arabia – the two countries that Pakistan counted to impress upon the international community when matters were being decided upon the FATF watch listing.

When it comes to the economy, Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have been in slow decline for the past 15 months –from $18.3 billion in January 2017 to $11.7 billion in March 2018. Its imports are shooting up, while exports are slow to pick up, causing a negative trade balance. And the potential FATF watch listing can only make matters worse, as it will become difficult for the country to attract any foreign investment. Amidst all this, Pakistan has hopes from China and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which the Pakistani leadership has time and again painted as “an example of inclusive development paradigm benefitting all stakeholders”.Yet, even if one looks closely as to what the CPEC has achieved so far, it is safe to assume that Pakistan will have hard time in absorbing the Chinese investments. Consider this: the already functional Sahiwal power plant in Punjab as part of the CPEC, with 1,320 megawatts generation capacity has neared the brink of closure within nine months of its operation as government is unable to settle the Pakistani Rs. 20 billion in power dues of the project. And this is just the beginning of debt trap for Pakistan, making it the minion of China in true sense of the term.

The Chinese nationals involved in the Khanewal incident may have been deported now, but surely this won’t be the last of such incidents of the growing violent assertiveness of China. The incident is surely to raise questions amongst common Pakistanis as to what their leaders are bringing upon the country. Above all, it is the Army, with sworn pledge to protect Pakistan’s territorial sovereignty that is making sure to leave no stone unturned to placate the Chinese. Surely this is the stress test of the Pakistan-China friendship, which can potentially sow the seeds of a bitter breakup. But till then, it will be the story remembered as ‘One Belt, One Road, One Thrashing’.