Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill, originally uploaded by www.first-pakistan.blogspot.com.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

*JHELUM: Paratroopers hurtling head first out of planes, attack helicopters
strafing a terror training centre and shacks blown to bits were this week’s
latest embodiment of China-Pakistan friendship.*

The war games conducted by 540 Chinese and Pakistani soldiers running
around scrubland —the fourth joint exercises since 2006 —were ostensibly a
chance for China to benefit from Pakistan’s counter-terrorism experience.

There was disappointment that fighter jets were unable to carry out a
bombing raid, with visibility apparently poor, but the exercises were
declared a success in terms of deepening friendship and improving military
cooperation.

But behind the pomp rolled out for the Chinese, complete with slap-up
marquee lunch and bags of presents, the relationship is as transactional as
any other, as China competes with Pakistan’s arch-rival India for Asian
dominance.

And it is far from easy to decipher. “They operate silently so as not to
make any statements in public apart from cliches. So one doesn’t know
what’s happening,” said retired Pakistani general Talat Masood.

China is Pakistan’s main arms supplier, while Beijing has built two nuclear
power plants in Pakistan and is contracted to construct two more reactors.

But the alliance has been knocked by Chinese accusations that the
separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which wants an
independent homeland for Xinjiang’s Muslim Uighurs, is training
“terrorists” in Pakistani camps.

Those accusations mirror long-standing concerns from the United States that
Taliban and al Qaeda bases are funnelling recruits to fight in Afghanistan
and hatch terror plots against the West.

During the exercises outside Jhelum, 85 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of
Islamabad, generals watched troops attack, clear and destroy a mocked-up
training camp, while smoking and sipping cups of tea under a giant tent to
keep off winter rays.

Chinese deputy chief of staff Hou Shusen and Pakistan’s army chief Ashfaq
Kayani sat together in the front row, guests of honour incapable of talking
to each other without the help of an interpreter.

“We have done our utmost to eliminate this threat of ETIM and other
extremists for China because we consider honestly that China’s security is
very dear to Pakistan,” Kayani told a news conference after the war games.

He said that Pakistan had provided intelligence during the 2008 Beijing
Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and reiterated demands for closer
military cooperation and larger imports of military hardware from China.

Beijing was instrumental in getting the United Nations and United States to
blacklist ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002, but experts have
questioned how much of a threat such a small group of people really poses.

Pakistani analysts believe members number no more than hundreds and are
fairly dispersed in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-China border.

Despite that issue, if the language used to describe Pakistan’s febrile
relationship with the United States is that of an unhappy couple wishing
but unable to divorce, then the hyperbole used to describe China is that of
an ecstatic lover.

“Higher than mountains” and “sweeter than honey” were phrases used by Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when Chinese Public Security Minister Meng
Jianzhu came to town in September, at a time when relations with the US
were at their most difficult in years.

The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, had just accused Pakistan
of colluding with Afghan militants in besieging the US embassy in Kabul as
ties plummeted further after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

But independent China analyst Michael Dillon says that without any real
ideological links, China’s relationship with Pakistan is primarily
strategic, designed to offset its rivalry with India.

“There is a feeling that cooperation with Pakistan on counter-terrorism
might be in China’s interests,” he told AFP.

“They’ve got economic domination over Southeast Asia. But South Asia is
another matter. The big rival is India. If they can get close
diplomatically to Pakistan then it can balance the power of India in the
subcontinent,” he said.

Neither can China present an alternative to the US alliance.

But Kayani described China as “very important” to regional stability,
perhaps best seen against a backdrop of Pakistan’s own rivalry with India.

“It’s not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with
China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to
improve your relationship with the US,” said Masood.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill, originally uploaded by www.first-pakistan.blogspot.com.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

*JHELUM: Paratroopers hurtling head first out of planes, attack helicopters
strafing a terror training centre and shacks blown to bits were this week’s
latest embodiment of China-Pakistan friendship.*

The war games conducted by 540 Chinese and Pakistani soldiers running
around scrubland —the fourth joint exercises since 2006 —were ostensibly a
chance for China to benefit from Pakistan’s counter-terrorism experience.

There was disappointment that fighter jets were unable to carry out a
bombing raid, with visibility apparently poor, but the exercises were
declared a success in terms of deepening friendship and improving military
cooperation.

But behind the pomp rolled out for the Chinese, complete with slap-up
marquee lunch and bags of presents, the relationship is as transactional as
any other, as China competes with Pakistan’s arch-rival India for Asian
dominance.

And it is far from easy to decipher. “They operate silently so as not to
make any statements in public apart from cliches. So one doesn’t know
what’s happening,” said retired Pakistani general Talat Masood.

China is Pakistan’s main arms supplier, while Beijing has built two nuclear
power plants in Pakistan and is contracted to construct two more reactors.

But the alliance has been knocked by Chinese accusations that the
separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which wants an
independent homeland for Xinjiang’s Muslim Uighurs, is training
“terrorists” in Pakistani camps.

Those accusations mirror long-standing concerns from the United States that
Taliban and al Qaeda bases are funnelling recruits to fight in Afghanistan
and hatch terror plots against the West.

During the exercises outside Jhelum, 85 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of
Islamabad, generals watched troops attack, clear and destroy a mocked-up
training camp, while smoking and sipping cups of tea under a giant tent to
keep off winter rays.

Chinese deputy chief of staff Hou Shusen and Pakistan’s army chief Ashfaq
Kayani sat together in the front row, guests of honour incapable of talking
to each other without the help of an interpreter.

“We have done our utmost to eliminate this threat of ETIM and other
extremists for China because we consider honestly that China’s security is
very dear to Pakistan,” Kayani told a news conference after the war games.

He said that Pakistan had provided intelligence during the 2008 Beijing
Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and reiterated demands for closer
military cooperation and larger imports of military hardware from China.

Beijing was instrumental in getting the United Nations and United States to
blacklist ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002, but experts have
questioned how much of a threat such a small group of people really poses.

Pakistani analysts believe members number no more than hundreds and are
fairly dispersed in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-China border.

Despite that issue, if the language used to describe Pakistan’s febrile
relationship with the United States is that of an unhappy couple wishing
but unable to divorce, then the hyperbole used to describe China is that of
an ecstatic lover.

“Higher than mountains” and “sweeter than honey” were phrases used by Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when Chinese Public Security Minister Meng
Jianzhu came to town in September, at a time when relations with the US
were at their most difficult in years.

The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, had just accused Pakistan
of colluding with Afghan militants in besieging the US embassy in Kabul as
ties plummeted further after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

But independent China analyst Michael Dillon says that without any real
ideological links, China’s relationship with Pakistan is primarily
strategic, designed to offset its rivalry with India.

“There is a feeling that cooperation with Pakistan on counter-terrorism
might be in China’s interests,” he told AFP.

“They’ve got economic domination over Southeast Asia. But South Asia is
another matter. The big rival is India. If they can get close
diplomatically to Pakistan then it can balance the power of India in the
subcontinent,” he said.

Neither can China present an alternative to the US alliance.

But Kayani described China as “very important” to regional stability,
perhaps best seen against a backdrop of Pakistan’s own rivalry with India.

“It’s not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with
China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to
improve your relationship with the US,” said Masood.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill, originally uploaded by www.first-pakistan.blogspot.com.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

*JHELUM: Paratroopers hurtling head first out of planes, attack helicopters
strafing a terror training centre and shacks blown to bits were this week’s
latest embodiment of China-Pakistan friendship.*

The war games conducted by 540 Chinese and Pakistani soldiers running
around scrubland —the fourth joint exercises since 2006 —were ostensibly a
chance for China to benefit from Pakistan’s counter-terrorism experience.

There was disappointment that fighter jets were unable to carry out a
bombing raid, with visibility apparently poor, but the exercises were
declared a success in terms of deepening friendship and improving military
cooperation.

But behind the pomp rolled out for the Chinese, complete with slap-up
marquee lunch and bags of presents, the relationship is as transactional as
any other, as China competes with Pakistan’s arch-rival India for Asian
dominance.

And it is far from easy to decipher. “They operate silently so as not to
make any statements in public apart from cliches. So one doesn’t know
what’s happening,” said retired Pakistani general Talat Masood.

China is Pakistan’s main arms supplier, while Beijing has built two nuclear
power plants in Pakistan and is contracted to construct two more reactors.

But the alliance has been knocked by Chinese accusations that the
separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which wants an
independent homeland for Xinjiang’s Muslim Uighurs, is training
“terrorists” in Pakistani camps.

Those accusations mirror long-standing concerns from the United States that
Taliban and al Qaeda bases are funnelling recruits to fight in Afghanistan
and hatch terror plots against the West.

During the exercises outside Jhelum, 85 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of
Islamabad, generals watched troops attack, clear and destroy a mocked-up
training camp, while smoking and sipping cups of tea under a giant tent to
keep off winter rays.

Chinese deputy chief of staff Hou Shusen and Pakistan’s army chief Ashfaq
Kayani sat together in the front row, guests of honour incapable of talking
to each other without the help of an interpreter.

“We have done our utmost to eliminate this threat of ETIM and other
extremists for China because we consider honestly that China’s security is
very dear to Pakistan,” Kayani told a news conference after the war games.

He said that Pakistan had provided intelligence during the 2008 Beijing
Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and reiterated demands for closer
military cooperation and larger imports of military hardware from China.

Beijing was instrumental in getting the United Nations and United States to
blacklist ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002, but experts have
questioned how much of a threat such a small group of people really poses.

Pakistani analysts believe members number no more than hundreds and are
fairly dispersed in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-China border.

Despite that issue, if the language used to describe Pakistan’s febrile
relationship with the United States is that of an unhappy couple wishing
but unable to divorce, then the hyperbole used to describe China is that of
an ecstatic lover.

“Higher than mountains” and “sweeter than honey” were phrases used by Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when Chinese Public Security Minister Meng
Jianzhu came to town in September, at a time when relations with the US
were at their most difficult in years.

The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, had just accused Pakistan
of colluding with Afghan militants in besieging the US embassy in Kabul as
ties plummeted further after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

But independent China analyst Michael Dillon says that without any real
ideological links, China’s relationship with Pakistan is primarily
strategic, designed to offset its rivalry with India.

“There is a feeling that cooperation with Pakistan on counter-terrorism
might be in China’s interests,” he told AFP.

“They’ve got economic domination over Southeast Asia. But South Asia is
another matter. The big rival is India. If they can get close
diplomatically to Pakistan then it can balance the power of India in the
subcontinent,” he said.

Neither can China present an alternative to the US alliance.

But Kayani described China as “very important” to regional stability,
perhaps best seen against a backdrop of Pakistan’s own rivalry with India.

“It’s not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with
China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to
improve your relationship with the US,” said Masood.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill, originally uploaded by www.first-pakistan.blogspot.com.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

*JHELUM: Paratroopers hurtling head first out of planes, attack helicopters
strafing a terror training centre and shacks blown to bits were this week’s
latest embodiment of China-Pakistan friendship.*

The war games conducted by 540 Chinese and Pakistani soldiers running
around scrubland —the fourth joint exercises since 2006 —were ostensibly a
chance for China to benefit from Pakistan’s counter-terrorism experience.

There was disappointment that fighter jets were unable to carry out a
bombing raid, with visibility apparently poor, but the exercises were
declared a success in terms of deepening friendship and improving military
cooperation.

But behind the pomp rolled out for the Chinese, complete with slap-up
marquee lunch and bags of presents, the relationship is as transactional as
any other, as China competes with Pakistan’s arch-rival India for Asian
dominance.

And it is far from easy to decipher. “They operate silently so as not to
make any statements in public apart from cliches. So one doesn’t know
what’s happening,” said retired Pakistani general Talat Masood.

China is Pakistan’s main arms supplier, while Beijing has built two nuclear
power plants in Pakistan and is contracted to construct two more reactors.

But the alliance has been knocked by Chinese accusations that the
separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which wants an
independent homeland for Xinjiang’s Muslim Uighurs, is training
“terrorists” in Pakistani camps.

Those accusations mirror long-standing concerns from the United States that
Taliban and al Qaeda bases are funnelling recruits to fight in Afghanistan
and hatch terror plots against the West.

During the exercises outside Jhelum, 85 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of
Islamabad, generals watched troops attack, clear and destroy a mocked-up
training camp, while smoking and sipping cups of tea under a giant tent to
keep off winter rays.

Chinese deputy chief of staff Hou Shusen and Pakistan’s army chief Ashfaq
Kayani sat together in the front row, guests of honour incapable of talking
to each other without the help of an interpreter.

“We have done our utmost to eliminate this threat of ETIM and other
extremists for China because we consider honestly that China’s security is
very dear to Pakistan,” Kayani told a news conference after the war games.

He said that Pakistan had provided intelligence during the 2008 Beijing
Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and reiterated demands for closer
military cooperation and larger imports of military hardware from China.

Beijing was instrumental in getting the United Nations and United States to
blacklist ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002, but experts have
questioned how much of a threat such a small group of people really poses.

Pakistani analysts believe members number no more than hundreds and are
fairly dispersed in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-China border.

Despite that issue, if the language used to describe Pakistan’s febrile
relationship with the United States is that of an unhappy couple wishing
but unable to divorce, then the hyperbole used to describe China is that of
an ecstatic lover.

“Higher than mountains” and “sweeter than honey” were phrases used by Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when Chinese Public Security Minister Meng
Jianzhu came to town in September, at a time when relations with the US
were at their most difficult in years.

The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, had just accused Pakistan
of colluding with Afghan militants in besieging the US embassy in Kabul as
ties plummeted further after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

But independent China analyst Michael Dillon says that without any real
ideological links, China’s relationship with Pakistan is primarily
strategic, designed to offset its rivalry with India.

“There is a feeling that cooperation with Pakistan on counter-terrorism
might be in China’s interests,” he told AFP.

“They’ve got economic domination over Southeast Asia. But South Asia is
another matter. The big rival is India. If they can get close
diplomatically to Pakistan then it can balance the power of India in the
subcontinent,” he said.

Neither can China present an alternative to the US alliance.

But Kayani described China as “very important” to regional stability,
perhaps best seen against a backdrop of Pakistan’s own rivalry with India.

“It’s not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with
China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to
improve your relationship with the US,” said Masood.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill, originally uploaded by www.first-pakistan.blogspot.com.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

*JHELUM: Paratroopers hurtling head first out of planes, attack helicopters
strafing a terror training centre and shacks blown to bits were this week’s
latest embodiment of China-Pakistan friendship.*

The war games conducted by 540 Chinese and Pakistani soldiers running
around scrubland —the fourth joint exercises since 2006 —were ostensibly a
chance for China to benefit from Pakistan’s counter-terrorism experience.

There was disappointment that fighter jets were unable to carry out a
bombing raid, with visibility apparently poor, but the exercises were
declared a success in terms of deepening friendship and improving military
cooperation.

But behind the pomp rolled out for the Chinese, complete with slap-up
marquee lunch and bags of presents, the relationship is as transactional as
any other, as China competes with Pakistan’s arch-rival India for Asian
dominance.

And it is far from easy to decipher. “They operate silently so as not to
make any statements in public apart from cliches. So one doesn’t know
what’s happening,” said retired Pakistani general Talat Masood.

China is Pakistan’s main arms supplier, while Beijing has built two nuclear
power plants in Pakistan and is contracted to construct two more reactors.

But the alliance has been knocked by Chinese accusations that the
separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which wants an
independent homeland for Xinjiang’s Muslim Uighurs, is training
“terrorists” in Pakistani camps.

Those accusations mirror long-standing concerns from the United States that
Taliban and al Qaeda bases are funnelling recruits to fight in Afghanistan
and hatch terror plots against the West.

During the exercises outside Jhelum, 85 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of
Islamabad, generals watched troops attack, clear and destroy a mocked-up
training camp, while smoking and sipping cups of tea under a giant tent to
keep off winter rays.

Chinese deputy chief of staff Hou Shusen and Pakistan’s army chief Ashfaq
Kayani sat together in the front row, guests of honour incapable of talking
to each other without the help of an interpreter.

“We have done our utmost to eliminate this threat of ETIM and other
extremists for China because we consider honestly that China’s security is
very dear to Pakistan,” Kayani told a news conference after the war games.

He said that Pakistan had provided intelligence during the 2008 Beijing
Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and reiterated demands for closer
military cooperation and larger imports of military hardware from China.

Beijing was instrumental in getting the United Nations and United States to
blacklist ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002, but experts have
questioned how much of a threat such a small group of people really poses.

Pakistani analysts believe members number no more than hundreds and are
fairly dispersed in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-China border.

Despite that issue, if the language used to describe Pakistan’s febrile
relationship with the United States is that of an unhappy couple wishing
but unable to divorce, then the hyperbole used to describe China is that of
an ecstatic lover.

“Higher than mountains” and “sweeter than honey” were phrases used by Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when Chinese Public Security Minister Meng
Jianzhu came to town in September, at a time when relations with the US
were at their most difficult in years.

The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, had just accused Pakistan
of colluding with Afghan militants in besieging the US embassy in Kabul as
ties plummeted further after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

But independent China analyst Michael Dillon says that without any real
ideological links, China’s relationship with Pakistan is primarily
strategic, designed to offset its rivalry with India.

“There is a feeling that cooperation with Pakistan on counter-terrorism
might be in China’s interests,” he told AFP.

“They’ve got economic domination over Southeast Asia. But South Asia is
another matter. The big rival is India. If they can get close
diplomatically to Pakistan then it can balance the power of India in the
subcontinent,” he said.

Neither can China present an alternative to the US alliance.

But Kayani described China as “very important” to regional stability,
perhaps best seen against a backdrop of Pakistan’s own rivalry with India.

“It’s not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with
China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to
improve your relationship with the US,” said Masood.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill, originally uploaded by www.first-pakistan.blogspot.com.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

*JHELUM: Paratroopers hurtling head first out of planes, attack helicopters
strafing a terror training centre and shacks blown to bits were this week’s
latest embodiment of China-Pakistan friendship.*

The war games conducted by 540 Chinese and Pakistani soldiers running
around scrubland —the fourth joint exercises since 2006 —were ostensibly a
chance for China to benefit from Pakistan’s counter-terrorism experience.

There was disappointment that fighter jets were unable to carry out a
bombing raid, with visibility apparently poor, but the exercises were
declared a success in terms of deepening friendship and improving military
cooperation.

But behind the pomp rolled out for the Chinese, complete with slap-up
marquee lunch and bags of presents, the relationship is as transactional as
any other, as China competes with Pakistan’s arch-rival India for Asian
dominance.

And it is far from easy to decipher. “They operate silently so as not to
make any statements in public apart from cliches. So one doesn’t know
what’s happening,” said retired Pakistani general Talat Masood.

China is Pakistan’s main arms supplier, while Beijing has built two nuclear
power plants in Pakistan and is contracted to construct two more reactors.

But the alliance has been knocked by Chinese accusations that the
separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which wants an
independent homeland for Xinjiang’s Muslim Uighurs, is training
“terrorists” in Pakistani camps.

Those accusations mirror long-standing concerns from the United States that
Taliban and al Qaeda bases are funnelling recruits to fight in Afghanistan
and hatch terror plots against the West.

During the exercises outside Jhelum, 85 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of
Islamabad, generals watched troops attack, clear and destroy a mocked-up
training camp, while smoking and sipping cups of tea under a giant tent to
keep off winter rays.

Chinese deputy chief of staff Hou Shusen and Pakistan’s army chief Ashfaq
Kayani sat together in the front row, guests of honour incapable of talking
to each other without the help of an interpreter.

“We have done our utmost to eliminate this threat of ETIM and other
extremists for China because we consider honestly that China’s security is
very dear to Pakistan,” Kayani told a news conference after the war games.

He said that Pakistan had provided intelligence during the 2008 Beijing
Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and reiterated demands for closer
military cooperation and larger imports of military hardware from China.

Beijing was instrumental in getting the United Nations and United States to
blacklist ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002, but experts have
questioned how much of a threat such a small group of people really poses.

Pakistani analysts believe members number no more than hundreds and are
fairly dispersed in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-China border.

Despite that issue, if the language used to describe Pakistan’s febrile
relationship with the United States is that of an unhappy couple wishing
but unable to divorce, then the hyperbole used to describe China is that of
an ecstatic lover.

“Higher than mountains” and “sweeter than honey” were phrases used by Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when Chinese Public Security Minister Meng
Jianzhu came to town in September, at a time when relations with the US
were at their most difficult in years.

The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, had just accused Pakistan
of colluding with Afghan militants in besieging the US embassy in Kabul as
ties plummeted further after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

But independent China analyst Michael Dillon says that without any real
ideological links, China’s relationship with Pakistan is primarily
strategic, designed to offset its rivalry with India.

“There is a feeling that cooperation with Pakistan on counter-terrorism
might be in China’s interests,” he told AFP.

“They’ve got economic domination over Southeast Asia. But South Asia is
another matter. The big rival is India. If they can get close
diplomatically to Pakistan then it can balance the power of India in the
subcontinent,” he said.

Neither can China present an alternative to the US alliance.

But Kayani described China as “very important” to regional stability,
perhaps best seen against a backdrop of Pakistan’s own rivalry with India.

“It’s not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with
China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to
improve your relationship with the US,” said Masood.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill, originally uploaded by www.first-pakistan.blogspot.com.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

*JHELUM: Paratroopers hurtling head first out of planes, attack helicopters
strafing a terror training centre and shacks blown to bits were this week’s
latest embodiment of China-Pakistan friendship.*

The war games conducted by 540 Chinese and Pakistani soldiers running
around scrubland —the fourth joint exercises since 2006 —were ostensibly a
chance for China to benefit from Pakistan’s counter-terrorism experience.

There was disappointment that fighter jets were unable to carry out a
bombing raid, with visibility apparently poor, but the exercises were
declared a success in terms of deepening friendship and improving military
cooperation.

But behind the pomp rolled out for the Chinese, complete with slap-up
marquee lunch and bags of presents, the relationship is as transactional as
any other, as China competes with Pakistan’s arch-rival India for Asian
dominance.

And it is far from easy to decipher. “They operate silently so as not to
make any statements in public apart from cliches. So one doesn’t know
what’s happening,” said retired Pakistani general Talat Masood.

China is Pakistan’s main arms supplier, while Beijing has built two nuclear
power plants in Pakistan and is contracted to construct two more reactors.

But the alliance has been knocked by Chinese accusations that the
separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which wants an
independent homeland for Xinjiang’s Muslim Uighurs, is training
“terrorists” in Pakistani camps.

Those accusations mirror long-standing concerns from the United States that
Taliban and al Qaeda bases are funnelling recruits to fight in Afghanistan
and hatch terror plots against the West.

During the exercises outside Jhelum, 85 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of
Islamabad, generals watched troops attack, clear and destroy a mocked-up
training camp, while smoking and sipping cups of tea under a giant tent to
keep off winter rays.

Chinese deputy chief of staff Hou Shusen and Pakistan’s army chief Ashfaq
Kayani sat together in the front row, guests of honour incapable of talking
to each other without the help of an interpreter.

“We have done our utmost to eliminate this threat of ETIM and other
extremists for China because we consider honestly that China’s security is
very dear to Pakistan,” Kayani told a news conference after the war games.

He said that Pakistan had provided intelligence during the 2008 Beijing
Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and reiterated demands for closer
military cooperation and larger imports of military hardware from China.

Beijing was instrumental in getting the United Nations and United States to
blacklist ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002, but experts have
questioned how much of a threat such a small group of people really poses.

Pakistani analysts believe members number no more than hundreds and are
fairly dispersed in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-China border.

Despite that issue, if the language used to describe Pakistan’s febrile
relationship with the United States is that of an unhappy couple wishing
but unable to divorce, then the hyperbole used to describe China is that of
an ecstatic lover.

“Higher than mountains” and “sweeter than honey” were phrases used by Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when Chinese Public Security Minister Meng
Jianzhu came to town in September, at a time when relations with the US
were at their most difficult in years.

The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, had just accused Pakistan
of colluding with Afghan militants in besieging the US embassy in Kabul as
ties plummeted further after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

But independent China analyst Michael Dillon says that without any real
ideological links, China’s relationship with Pakistan is primarily
strategic, designed to offset its rivalry with India.

“There is a feeling that cooperation with Pakistan on counter-terrorism
might be in China’s interests,” he told AFP.

“They’ve got economic domination over Southeast Asia. But South Asia is
another matter. The big rival is India. If they can get close
diplomatically to Pakistan then it can balance the power of India in the
subcontinent,” he said.

Neither can China present an alternative to the US alliance.

But Kayani described China as “very important” to regional stability,
perhaps best seen against a backdrop of Pakistan’s own rivalry with India.

“It’s not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with
China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to
improve your relationship with the US,” said Masood.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill, originally uploaded by www.first-pakistan.blogspot.com.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

*JHELUM: Paratroopers hurtling head first out of planes, attack helicopters
strafing a terror training centre and shacks blown to bits were this week’s
latest embodiment of China-Pakistan friendship.*

The war games conducted by 540 Chinese and Pakistani soldiers running
around scrubland —the fourth joint exercises since 2006 —were ostensibly a
chance for China to benefit from Pakistan’s counter-terrorism experience.

There was disappointment that fighter jets were unable to carry out a
bombing raid, with visibility apparently poor, but the exercises were
declared a success in terms of deepening friendship and improving military
cooperation.

But behind the pomp rolled out for the Chinese, complete with slap-up
marquee lunch and bags of presents, the relationship is as transactional as
any other, as China competes with Pakistan’s arch-rival India for Asian
dominance.

And it is far from easy to decipher. “They operate silently so as not to
make any statements in public apart from cliches. So one doesn’t know
what’s happening,” said retired Pakistani general Talat Masood.

China is Pakistan’s main arms supplier, while Beijing has built two nuclear
power plants in Pakistan and is contracted to construct two more reactors.

But the alliance has been knocked by Chinese accusations that the
separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which wants an
independent homeland for Xinjiang’s Muslim Uighurs, is training
“terrorists” in Pakistani camps.

Those accusations mirror long-standing concerns from the United States that
Taliban and al Qaeda bases are funnelling recruits to fight in Afghanistan
and hatch terror plots against the West.

During the exercises outside Jhelum, 85 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of
Islamabad, generals watched troops attack, clear and destroy a mocked-up
training camp, while smoking and sipping cups of tea under a giant tent to
keep off winter rays.

Chinese deputy chief of staff Hou Shusen and Pakistan’s army chief Ashfaq
Kayani sat together in the front row, guests of honour incapable of talking
to each other without the help of an interpreter.

“We have done our utmost to eliminate this threat of ETIM and other
extremists for China because we consider honestly that China’s security is
very dear to Pakistan,” Kayani told a news conference after the war games.

He said that Pakistan had provided intelligence during the 2008 Beijing
Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and reiterated demands for closer
military cooperation and larger imports of military hardware from China.

Beijing was instrumental in getting the United Nations and United States to
blacklist ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002, but experts have
questioned how much of a threat such a small group of people really poses.

Pakistani analysts believe members number no more than hundreds and are
fairly dispersed in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-China border.

Despite that issue, if the language used to describe Pakistan’s febrile
relationship with the United States is that of an unhappy couple wishing
but unable to divorce, then the hyperbole used to describe China is that of
an ecstatic lover.

“Higher than mountains” and “sweeter than honey” were phrases used by Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when Chinese Public Security Minister Meng
Jianzhu came to town in September, at a time when relations with the US
were at their most difficult in years.

The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, had just accused Pakistan
of colluding with Afghan militants in besieging the US embassy in Kabul as
ties plummeted further after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

But independent China analyst Michael Dillon says that without any real
ideological links, China’s relationship with Pakistan is primarily
strategic, designed to offset its rivalry with India.

“There is a feeling that cooperation with Pakistan on counter-terrorism
might be in China’s interests,” he told AFP.

“They’ve got economic domination over Southeast Asia. But South Asia is
another matter. The big rival is India. If they can get close
diplomatically to Pakistan then it can balance the power of India in the
subcontinent,” he said.

Neither can China present an alternative to the US alliance.

But Kayani described China as “very important” to regional stability,
perhaps best seen against a backdrop of Pakistan’s own rivalry with India.

“It’s not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with
China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to
improve your relationship with the US,” said Masood.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill, originally uploaded by www.first-pakistan.blogspot.com.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

*JHELUM: Paratroopers hurtling head first out of planes, attack helicopters
strafing a terror training centre and shacks blown to bits were this week’s
latest embodiment of China-Pakistan friendship.*

The war games conducted by 540 Chinese and Pakistani soldiers running
around scrubland —the fourth joint exercises since 2006 —were ostensibly a
chance for China to benefit from Pakistan’s counter-terrorism experience.

There was disappointment that fighter jets were unable to carry out a
bombing raid, with visibility apparently poor, but the exercises were
declared a success in terms of deepening friendship and improving military
cooperation.

But behind the pomp rolled out for the Chinese, complete with slap-up
marquee lunch and bags of presents, the relationship is as transactional as
any other, as China competes with Pakistan’s arch-rival India for Asian
dominance.

And it is far from easy to decipher. “They operate silently so as not to
make any statements in public apart from cliches. So one doesn’t know
what’s happening,” said retired Pakistani general Talat Masood.

China is Pakistan’s main arms supplier, while Beijing has built two nuclear
power plants in Pakistan and is contracted to construct two more reactors.

But the alliance has been knocked by Chinese accusations that the
separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which wants an
independent homeland for Xinjiang’s Muslim Uighurs, is training
“terrorists” in Pakistani camps.

Those accusations mirror long-standing concerns from the United States that
Taliban and al Qaeda bases are funnelling recruits to fight in Afghanistan
and hatch terror plots against the West.

During the exercises outside Jhelum, 85 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of
Islamabad, generals watched troops attack, clear and destroy a mocked-up
training camp, while smoking and sipping cups of tea under a giant tent to
keep off winter rays.

Chinese deputy chief of staff Hou Shusen and Pakistan’s army chief Ashfaq
Kayani sat together in the front row, guests of honour incapable of talking
to each other without the help of an interpreter.

“We have done our utmost to eliminate this threat of ETIM and other
extremists for China because we consider honestly that China’s security is
very dear to Pakistan,” Kayani told a news conference after the war games.

He said that Pakistan had provided intelligence during the 2008 Beijing
Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and reiterated demands for closer
military cooperation and larger imports of military hardware from China.

Beijing was instrumental in getting the United Nations and United States to
blacklist ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002, but experts have
questioned how much of a threat such a small group of people really poses.

Pakistani analysts believe members number no more than hundreds and are
fairly dispersed in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-China border.

Despite that issue, if the language used to describe Pakistan’s febrile
relationship with the United States is that of an unhappy couple wishing
but unable to divorce, then the hyperbole used to describe China is that of
an ecstatic lover.

“Higher than mountains” and “sweeter than honey” were phrases used by Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when Chinese Public Security Minister Meng
Jianzhu came to town in September, at a time when relations with the US
were at their most difficult in years.

The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, had just accused Pakistan
of colluding with Afghan militants in besieging the US embassy in Kabul as
ties plummeted further after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

But independent China analyst Michael Dillon says that without any real
ideological links, China’s relationship with Pakistan is primarily
strategic, designed to offset its rivalry with India.

“There is a feeling that cooperation with Pakistan on counter-terrorism
might be in China’s interests,” he told AFP.

“They’ve got economic domination over Southeast Asia. But South Asia is
another matter. The big rival is India. If they can get close
diplomatically to Pakistan then it can balance the power of India in the
subcontinent,” he said.

Neither can China present an alternative to the US alliance.

But Kayani described China as “very important” to regional stability,
perhaps best seen against a backdrop of Pakistan’s own rivalry with India.

“It’s not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with
China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to
improve your relationship with the US,” said Masood.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill, originally uploaded by www.first-pakistan.blogspot.com.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

*JHELUM: Paratroopers hurtling head first out of planes, attack helicopters
strafing a terror training centre and shacks blown to bits were this week’s
latest embodiment of China-Pakistan friendship.*

The war games conducted by 540 Chinese and Pakistani soldiers running
around scrubland —the fourth joint exercises since 2006 —were ostensibly a
chance for China to benefit from Pakistan’s counter-terrorism experience.

There was disappointment that fighter jets were unable to carry out a
bombing raid, with visibility apparently poor, but the exercises were
declared a success in terms of deepening friendship and improving military
cooperation.

But behind the pomp rolled out for the Chinese, complete with slap-up
marquee lunch and bags of presents, the relationship is as transactional as
any other, as China competes with Pakistan’s arch-rival India for Asian
dominance.

And it is far from easy to decipher. “They operate silently so as not to
make any statements in public apart from cliches. So one doesn’t know
what’s happening,” said retired Pakistani general Talat Masood.

China is Pakistan’s main arms supplier, while Beijing has built two nuclear
power plants in Pakistan and is contracted to construct two more reactors.

But the alliance has been knocked by Chinese accusations that the
separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which wants an
independent homeland for Xinjiang’s Muslim Uighurs, is training
“terrorists” in Pakistani camps.

Those accusations mirror long-standing concerns from the United States that
Taliban and al Qaeda bases are funnelling recruits to fight in Afghanistan
and hatch terror plots against the West.

During the exercises outside Jhelum, 85 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of
Islamabad, generals watched troops attack, clear and destroy a mocked-up
training camp, while smoking and sipping cups of tea under a giant tent to
keep off winter rays.

Chinese deputy chief of staff Hou Shusen and Pakistan’s army chief Ashfaq
Kayani sat together in the front row, guests of honour incapable of talking
to each other without the help of an interpreter.

“We have done our utmost to eliminate this threat of ETIM and other
extremists for China because we consider honestly that China’s security is
very dear to Pakistan,” Kayani told a news conference after the war games.

He said that Pakistan had provided intelligence during the 2008 Beijing
Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and reiterated demands for closer
military cooperation and larger imports of military hardware from China.

Beijing was instrumental in getting the United Nations and United States to
blacklist ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002, but experts have
questioned how much of a threat such a small group of people really poses.

Pakistani analysts believe members number no more than hundreds and are
fairly dispersed in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-China border.

Despite that issue, if the language used to describe Pakistan’s febrile
relationship with the United States is that of an unhappy couple wishing
but unable to divorce, then the hyperbole used to describe China is that of
an ecstatic lover.

“Higher than mountains” and “sweeter than honey” were phrases used by Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when Chinese Public Security Minister Meng
Jianzhu came to town in September, at a time when relations with the US
were at their most difficult in years.

The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, had just accused Pakistan
of colluding with Afghan militants in besieging the US embassy in Kabul as
ties plummeted further after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

But independent China analyst Michael Dillon says that without any real
ideological links, China’s relationship with Pakistan is primarily
strategic, designed to offset its rivalry with India.

“There is a feeling that cooperation with Pakistan on counter-terrorism
might be in China’s interests,” he told AFP.

“They’ve got economic domination over Southeast Asia. But South Asia is
another matter. The big rival is India. If they can get close
diplomatically to Pakistan then it can balance the power of India in the
subcontinent,” he said.

Neither can China present an alternative to the US alliance.

But Kayani described China as “very important” to regional stability,
perhaps best seen against a backdrop of Pakistan’s own rivalry with India.

“It’s not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with
China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to
improve your relationship with the US,” said Masood.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill, originally uploaded by www.first-pakistan.blogspot.com.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

*JHELUM: Paratroopers hurtling head first out of planes, attack helicopters
strafing a terror training centre and shacks blown to bits were this week’s
latest embodiment of China-Pakistan friendship.*

The war games conducted by 540 Chinese and Pakistani soldiers running
around scrubland —the fourth joint exercises since 2006 —were ostensibly a
chance for China to benefit from Pakistan’s counter-terrorism experience.

There was disappointment that fighter jets were unable to carry out a
bombing raid, with visibility apparently poor, but the exercises were
declared a success in terms of deepening friendship and improving military
cooperation.

But behind the pomp rolled out for the Chinese, complete with slap-up
marquee lunch and bags of presents, the relationship is as transactional as
any other, as China competes with Pakistan’s arch-rival India for Asian
dominance.

And it is far from easy to decipher. “They operate silently so as not to
make any statements in public apart from cliches. So one doesn’t know
what’s happening,” said retired Pakistani general Talat Masood.

China is Pakistan’s main arms supplier, while Beijing has built two nuclear
power plants in Pakistan and is contracted to construct two more reactors.

But the alliance has been knocked by Chinese accusations that the
separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which wants an
independent homeland for Xinjiang’s Muslim Uighurs, is training
“terrorists” in Pakistani camps.

Those accusations mirror long-standing concerns from the United States that
Taliban and al Qaeda bases are funnelling recruits to fight in Afghanistan
and hatch terror plots against the West.

During the exercises outside Jhelum, 85 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of
Islamabad, generals watched troops attack, clear and destroy a mocked-up
training camp, while smoking and sipping cups of tea under a giant tent to
keep off winter rays.

Chinese deputy chief of staff Hou Shusen and Pakistan’s army chief Ashfaq
Kayani sat together in the front row, guests of honour incapable of talking
to each other without the help of an interpreter.

“We have done our utmost to eliminate this threat of ETIM and other
extremists for China because we consider honestly that China’s security is
very dear to Pakistan,” Kayani told a news conference after the war games.

He said that Pakistan had provided intelligence during the 2008 Beijing
Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and reiterated demands for closer
military cooperation and larger imports of military hardware from China.

Beijing was instrumental in getting the United Nations and United States to
blacklist ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002, but experts have
questioned how much of a threat such a small group of people really poses.

Pakistani analysts believe members number no more than hundreds and are
fairly dispersed in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-China border.

Despite that issue, if the language used to describe Pakistan’s febrile
relationship with the United States is that of an unhappy couple wishing
but unable to divorce, then the hyperbole used to describe China is that of
an ecstatic lover.

“Higher than mountains” and “sweeter than honey” were phrases used by Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when Chinese Public Security Minister Meng
Jianzhu came to town in September, at a time when relations with the US
were at their most difficult in years.

The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, had just accused Pakistan
of colluding with Afghan militants in besieging the US embassy in Kabul as
ties plummeted further after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

But independent China analyst Michael Dillon says that without any real
ideological links, China’s relationship with Pakistan is primarily
strategic, designed to offset its rivalry with India.

“There is a feeling that cooperation with Pakistan on counter-terrorism
might be in China’s interests,” he told AFP.

“They’ve got economic domination over Southeast Asia. But South Asia is
another matter. The big rival is India. If they can get close
diplomatically to Pakistan then it can balance the power of India in the
subcontinent,” he said.

Neither can China present an alternative to the US alliance.

But Kayani described China as “very important” to regional stability,
perhaps best seen against a backdrop of Pakistan’s own rivalry with India.

“It’s not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with
China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to
improve your relationship with the US,” said Masood.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill, originally uploaded by www.first-pakistan.blogspot.com.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

*JHELUM: Paratroopers hurtling head first out of planes, attack helicopters
strafing a terror training centre and shacks blown to bits were this week’s
latest embodiment of China-Pakistan friendship.*

The war games conducted by 540 Chinese and Pakistani soldiers running
around scrubland —the fourth joint exercises since 2006 —were ostensibly a
chance for China to benefit from Pakistan’s counter-terrorism experience.

There was disappointment that fighter jets were unable to carry out a
bombing raid, with visibility apparently poor, but the exercises were
declared a success in terms of deepening friendship and improving military
cooperation.

But behind the pomp rolled out for the Chinese, complete with slap-up
marquee lunch and bags of presents, the relationship is as transactional as
any other, as China competes with Pakistan’s arch-rival India for Asian
dominance.

And it is far from easy to decipher. “They operate silently so as not to
make any statements in public apart from cliches. So one doesn’t know
what’s happening,” said retired Pakistani general Talat Masood.

China is Pakistan’s main arms supplier, while Beijing has built two nuclear
power plants in Pakistan and is contracted to construct two more reactors.

But the alliance has been knocked by Chinese accusations that the
separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which wants an
independent homeland for Xinjiang’s Muslim Uighurs, is training
“terrorists” in Pakistani camps.

Those accusations mirror long-standing concerns from the United States that
Taliban and al Qaeda bases are funnelling recruits to fight in Afghanistan
and hatch terror plots against the West.

During the exercises outside Jhelum, 85 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of
Islamabad, generals watched troops attack, clear and destroy a mocked-up
training camp, while smoking and sipping cups of tea under a giant tent to
keep off winter rays.

Chinese deputy chief of staff Hou Shusen and Pakistan’s army chief Ashfaq
Kayani sat together in the front row, guests of honour incapable of talking
to each other without the help of an interpreter.

“We have done our utmost to eliminate this threat of ETIM and other
extremists for China because we consider honestly that China’s security is
very dear to Pakistan,” Kayani told a news conference after the war games.

He said that Pakistan had provided intelligence during the 2008 Beijing
Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and reiterated demands for closer
military cooperation and larger imports of military hardware from China.

Beijing was instrumental in getting the United Nations and United States to
blacklist ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002, but experts have
questioned how much of a threat such a small group of people really poses.

Pakistani analysts believe members number no more than hundreds and are
fairly dispersed in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-China border.

Despite that issue, if the language used to describe Pakistan’s febrile
relationship with the United States is that of an unhappy couple wishing
but unable to divorce, then the hyperbole used to describe China is that of
an ecstatic lover.

“Higher than mountains” and “sweeter than honey” were phrases used by Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when Chinese Public Security Minister Meng
Jianzhu came to town in September, at a time when relations with the US
were at their most difficult in years.

The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, had just accused Pakistan
of colluding with Afghan militants in besieging the US embassy in Kabul as
ties plummeted further after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

But independent China analyst Michael Dillon says that without any real
ideological links, China’s relationship with Pakistan is primarily
strategic, designed to offset its rivalry with India.

“There is a feeling that cooperation with Pakistan on counter-terrorism
might be in China’s interests,” he told AFP.

“They’ve got economic domination over Southeast Asia. But South Asia is
another matter. The big rival is India. If they can get close
diplomatically to Pakistan then it can balance the power of India in the
subcontinent,” he said.

Neither can China present an alternative to the US alliance.

But Kayani described China as “very important” to regional stability,
perhaps best seen against a backdrop of Pakistan’s own rivalry with India.

“It’s not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with
China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to
improve your relationship with the US,” said Masood.

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

Pakistan and China participate in anti-terrorism drill

JHELUM: Paratroopers hurtling head first out of planes, attack helicopters strafing a terror training centre and shacks blown to bits were this week's latest embodiment of China-Pakistan friendship.

The war games conducted by 540 Chinese and Pakistani soldiers running around scrubland —the fourth joint exercises since 2006 —were ostensibly a chance for China to benefit from Pakistan's counter-terrorism experience.

There was disappointment that fighter jets were unable to carry out a bombing raid, with visibility apparently poor, but the exercises were declared a success in terms of deepening friendship and improving military cooperation.

But behind the pomp rolled out for the Chinese, complete with slap-up marquee lunch and bags of presents, the relationship is as transactional as any other, as China competes with Pakistan's arch-rival India for Asian dominance.

And it is far from easy to decipher. "They operate silently so as not to make any statements in public apart from cliches. So one doesn't know what's happening," said retired Pakistani general Talat Masood.

China is Pakistan's main arms supplier, while Beijing has built two nuclear power plants in Pakistan and is contracted to construct two more reactors.

But the alliance has been knocked by Chinese accusations that the separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which wants an independent homeland for Xinjiang's Muslim Uighurs, is training "terrorists" in Pakistani camps.

Those accusations mirror long-standing concerns from the United States that Taliban and al Qaeda bases are funnelling recruits to fight in Afghanistan and hatch terror plots against the West.

During the exercises outside Jhelum, 85 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of Islamabad, generals watched troops attack, clear and destroy a mocked-up training camp, while smoking and sipping cups of tea under a giant tent to keep off winter rays.

Chinese deputy chief of staff Hou Shusen and Pakistan's army chief Ashfaq Kayani sat together in the front row, guests of honour incapable of talking to each other without the help of an interpreter.

"We have done our utmost to eliminate this threat of ETIM and other extremists for China because we consider honestly that China's security is very dear to Pakistan," Kayani told a news conference after the war games.

He said that Pakistan had provided intelligence during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and reiterated demands for closer military cooperation and larger imports of military hardware from China.

Beijing was instrumental in getting the United Nations and United States to blacklist ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002, but experts have questioned how much of a threat such a small group of people really poses.

Pakistani analysts believe members number no more than hundreds and are fairly dispersed in the remote mountains on the Pakistan-China border.

Despite that issue, if the language used to describe Pakistan's febrile relationship with the United States is that of an unhappy couple wishing but unable to divorce, then the hyperbole used to describe China is that of an ecstatic lover.

"Higher than mountains" and "sweeter than honey" were phrases used by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when Chinese Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu came to town in September, at a time when relations with the US were at their most difficult in years.

The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, had just accused Pakistan of colluding with Afghan militants in besieging the US embassy in Kabul as ties plummeted further after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

But independent China analyst Michael Dillon says that without any real ideological links, China's relationship with Pakistan is primarily strategic, designed to offset its rivalry with India.

"There is a feeling that cooperation with Pakistan on counter-terrorism might be in China's interests," he told AFP.

"They've got economic domination over Southeast Asia. But South Asia is another matter. The big rival is India. If they can get close diplomatically to Pakistan then it can balance the power of India in the subcontinent," he said.

Neither can China present an alternative to the US alliance.

But Kayani described China as "very important" to regional stability, perhaps best seen against a backdrop of Pakistan's own rivalry with India.

"It's not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to improve your relationship with the US," said Masood.

From US to Pakistan

A Pakistani Moin Khan on bike:
Waking up every morning in San Francisco and being greeted by sad headlines from Pakistan was getting under Moin Khan’s skin. He decided to show the world that Pakistanis were regular people too and so began his journey – biking from the US all the way to Pakistan.


Since then Khan’s Honda F4i’s tires have touched down in the US, Canada, England, Scotland, Germany, Czech Republic, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania.

Pakistan Most Dangerous Place on earth

Attabad Lake, Gilgit
Pakistan

How To Stop Your External Hard Disk From Going Into Sleep Mode

How To Stop Your External Hard Disk From Going Into Sleep Mode

Do not install any third party softwares.
Seagate offer a software to configure the external hard disk sleep settings.
Just download/install FreeAgent ( SEAGATE MANAGER) from seagate website.
then
---My Drives Tab
---Settings
---Adjust power settings
---set time NEVER or whatever you like.

I actually solved my external HDD Sleep problem.
Softwares available to solve problem are actually spywares, do not install them.
WD user may find same type of solution from WD website..

........and in backup tab...set back up to off...by default its on...

How do I disable sleep/spindown mode
Prevent External Drives From Going Into Auto Sleep

PAF Fighter Pilots

The DAWN Pakistan Agri Expo

The DAWN Pakistan Agri Expo is set to be Pakistan's largest agricultural exposition, bringing together participation from all business sectors directly or indirectly involved with agriculture. It will present a rare opportunity to assess the potential of Pakistan's agricultural market, enabling participants to develop partnerships with the key players that are driving this sector forward.

Today, Pakistan is in search of applicable cutting-edge technology and the latest methodologies that will enable it to meet the challenges of becoming one of the leading agricultural economies of South Asia.

Participating in The DAWN Pakistan Agri Expo will be your big opportunity to be part of one of the most exciting agri-business opportunities of the unfolding decade.

http://agri.dawn.com/

Minglig Sar ,PAKISTAN

Minglig Sar ,PAKISTAN, originally uploaded by www.first-pakistan.blogspot.com.

Minglig Sar ,PAKISTAN
NORTH PAKISTAN

Minglig Sar ,PAKISTAN

Minglig Sar ,PAKISTAN, originally uploaded by www.first-pakistan.blogspot.com.

Minglig Sar ,PAKISTAN
NORTH PAKISTAN