London: Pakistan’s increasing reliance on China raises concerns over Islamabad’s ability to retain operational autonomy and military sovereignty in a major conflict amid Beijing’s apparent involvement in its Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) programme.
For decades, China has significantly contributed to Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities by providing enriched uranium, along with essential materials and expertise since the 1970s, a report has highlighted.
Writing for UK-based publication ‘Royal Society for Asian Affairs’, Marcus Andreopoulos, a senior research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Foundation and an expert with NATO’s Global Threats Advisory Group (GTAG), said that the development has not gone unnoticed in Washington.
He noted that months before sanctioning Pakistan’s National Development Complex (NDC) and other Pakistani entities, the erstwhile Biden administration imposed sanctions on several Chinese companies and a research institute for “knowingly aiding” Pakistan’s ballistic missile programme.
This action, the expert said, followed earlier sanctions imposed on three other Chinese firms for similar violations.
According to the report, in June 2024, Lindsay Ford, a former Biden administration advisor on South Asia, warned of an “emerging nuclear threat” to the US from Pakistan.
Ford argued that the rising paranoia in Islamabad, fuelled by the 2025 American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, could accelerate Pakistan’s long-range missile programme and result in the development of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) capable of reaching the US itself.
“As an established nuclear power, this would allow Pakistan to launch nuclear warheads far further than previously possible. This potentially poses an unprecedented threat to the US mainland – one that has previously been reserved only for America’s traditional nuclear adversaries. Yet recent events suggest that, instead of addressing these developments, Washington is opting to prioritise closer ties with Islamabad instead,” the report noted.
The report highlighted that the current US administration seems to have sidelined these considerations, pursuing a largely transactional approach to Pakistan that prioritises economic interests over regional security concerns.
“This has resulted in closer engagement with Pakistan’s military-backed government, despite concerns in Congress about ongoing political repression in the country,” it added.
Questioning Washington’s current approach, the report said, “Should US–Pakistan relations proceed as they are, there is little reason to expect Trump to take interest in, let alone seek to curb, Pakistan’s ICBM programme.”
(IANS)
