HYDERABAD, Aug 25: Former ambassador Dr Maqbool Ahmed Bhatty has said that friendship with China has become the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy and it enjoys full support in the country.

He was delivering a talk on “Pakistan’s Evolving Relations with China” at the Area Study Centre Fareast and Southeast Asia, University of Sindh, on Friday.

Dr Bhatty said that the friendship with China has been called “all-weather friendship” and “an indispensable partnership” and it has also been described as “a model of friendship between countries with different social systems”.

He pointed out that the future of Sino-Pakistan friendship and cooperation is assured and would be aimed at ensuring peace, stability and a Multi-polar world order.Highlighting historical background of the friendship between the two countries Dr Bhatty said that both countries are heirs to ancient civilisations.

He claimed that first recorded contact took place in 200BC when a Chinese delegation crossed the mountains separating the two regions.

He said that after the spread of Buddhism to China, some Chinese monks (Fa Hian, Tsieven Tsang) visited the subcontinent in 6th and 8th centuries and left valuable records.

Muslim expansion to West and Central Asia cut off the Silk Route but Islam spread to China.

Dr Bhattey said that Pakistan was among the first countries to recognise PRC and diplomatic relations were established in May 1951.

He said that during 1947 to 1962 as Pakistan was preoccupied by internal challenges in first few years (Kashmir conflict and settlement of refugees), interaction was limited and added that owing to threat from India, Pakistan was obliged to join Western Pacts in 1954 with Seato ostensibly directed against China.

However, he claimed that China accepted Pakistan’s response that it was purely for national security.

He said the two countries cooperated at the Bandung Conference in 1955, which was followed by exchange of visits between Prime Ministers Zhou En-lai and Suhrawardy in 1956 and added that by 1959, differences over the boundary reared their head, with India basing its claim on the so-called Mc Mahon Line that had been drawn during the British period without the participation of the Chinese government.

He said that as China became isolated internationally, with both Super Powers opposed to it after the Sino-Soviet rift in 1959, India felt encouraged to take advantage of this situation.

He said that China’s virtual isolation imposed by global airlines ended when an air service agreement was signed in 1963 and the airport at Shanghai was completed in a few months to enable the PIA to start the service in April 1964.

He said that Pakistan received important benefits from this relationship.

Dr Bhatty pointed out that Henry Kissinger travelled to Beijing secretly via Islamabad in July 1971, at a time when President General Yahya Khan was dealing with an Indian encouraged insurgency in East Pakistan following a crackdown in March.

Dr Bhattey said that it is worth mentioning that China played a special role in securing the release of 90,000 Pakistani PoWs by threatening to veto the entry of Bangladesh into the UN unless they were released.

He said that Pakistan played the role of the front-line state over the decade of 1979-89 and there were frequent consultations between the two countries.In addition, the range of cooperation between the two countries expanded constantly, with a Treaty for cooperation in Peaceful uses of Nuclear Technology being signed in 1986, while “I was ambassador there”.

He said that global outlook and political direction were transformed at the turn of the century. Firstly, President George W. Bush adopted a unilateralist approach, seeking world hegemony.