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Pakistan's Zardari looks to China to show support

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-15 13:21

BEIJING -- Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is set to usher in a series of agreements with China on Wednesday, highlighting Islamabad's hopes that Beijing will help it through economic and diplomatic troubles.

Zardari arrived on Tuesday for his first visit to China as president, and has said he wants his four-day trip "to remind the leadership of the world how close our relationship is".

He is wooing Beijing at a time when his country's relations with the United States are strained after US forces in Afghanistan carried out cross-border air raids and at least one ground assault on al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan.

Washington also recently sealed a civilian nuclear deal with India that riled Pakistan. Both New Delhi and Islamabad have developed nuclear weapons to counter each other, but Washington has ruled out a similar deal for Islamabad.

After meeting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao, Zardari will oversee signing of agreements, including possibly a soft loan, according to media reports and an expert.

Zardari hopes to secure a concessional loan of some $500 million to $1.5 billion from China to help Pakistan's struggling finances, the Financial Times reported.

A Chinese expert on relations with South Asia said that financial help was likely, along with possibly a broad statement on expanding civilian nuclear cooperation.

"Especially with the India-US nuclear agreement, Pakistan feels troubled and neglected by Washington and Zardari would want to remind the world that he expects equal treatment," said Zhang Li, the expert from Sichuan University in southwest China.

"The Pakistani economy is extremely troubled, and China may feel compelled to show that it won't just stand aside. A loan seems likely, but China will also expect concessions in return."

But Beijing does not want to become embroiled in fresh rivalry between India and Pakistan and any agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation would be a "gesture of goodwill", rather than a substantive agreement, Zhang said.

"Any agreement would be more about showing unity. I don't expect anything substantive in such tense times" he said.

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said his country wanted to "continue developing cooperation" with Pakistan in civilian nuclear power, provided that came under international safeguards against proliferation. But he did not comment directly on any possible new deals.

Pakistan has two nuclear power plants, is building a third, and said last month it wants to build more to overcome acute power shortages. Its nuclear plant at Chasma was built with the help of China, which is also helping to build the third nearby.

China, which long had tense relations with India, is also Pakistan's main supplier of conventional arms and provides hundreds of millions of dollars of development finance.

Zardari is the widower of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister who was assassinated in December after her return from exile.