According to the Express Tribune daily, Pakistan and China are collaborating on a plan to create a new regional organization that would take the place of the now-defunct South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
According to the article, which cited diplomatic sources with knowledge of the situation, negotiations between Beijing and Islamabad are now at a high level since both parties are certain that a new organization is necessary for connectivity and regional integration.
The new organization might take the place of SAARC, a regional bloc that includes India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, according to the publication, which also quoted sources.
As part of those diplomatic moves, the article said, Pakistan, China, and Bangladesh recently held a trilateral conference in Kunming, China, with the intention of inviting additional SAARC-member South Asian nations to join the new alliance.
The interim government of Bangladesh, however, rejected the notion of any new partnership between Dhaka, Beijing, and Islamabad, claiming the discussion was not “political,” according to news agency PTI.
“India has not forming any reliable alliance,” foreign affairs adviser M Touhid Hossain had said. The main purpose of the new organisation is to seek greater regional engagement through enhanced trade and connectivity, the newspaper said. It added that if the proposal is materialised, it would replace the SAARC, which has been suspended for a long time due to the India-Pakistan conflict.
The potential regional alliance involving China, Pakistan, and Bangladesh has faced resistance from the interim government of Bangladesh, which deemed the discussions non-political. The aim of this new organization is to foster increased regional cooperation through improved trade and connectivity, potentially supplanting the long-standing suspended SAARC amidst tensions between India and Pakistan.
