In 1963 Maulana Bhashani met Mao in Peking and Mao spoke to him about Pakistan, USA, USSR, and China. China’s relationship with Pakistan was extremely fragile at the time, Mao said to Bhashani, and the United States, Russia and India would do their utmost to break this relationship. Mao said: ‘You are our friend and if at the present moment you continue your struggle against the Ayub Government, it will only strengthen the hand of Russia, America and India. It is against our principles to interfere with your work, but we would advise you to proceed slowly and carefully. Give us a chance to deepen our friendship with your Government.’ The Maulana agreed and kept his word for almost six years, says Syed in this study of the development of ·Sino-Pakistan relationship. During this time the relationship between China and Pakistan developed and deepened and turned from detente to entente. As Syed says, the Chinese leaders said or did nothing to support the popular movement against Ayub Khan during 1968-69 or again the conservative and feudal rulers of Pakistan. Indeed, it is Syed’s thesis that China scrupulously kept out of Pakistan’s internal affairs and never made any effort to encourage any revolutionary or dissident activity. Anwar Hussain Syed writes from Pakistan’s point of view and is often contemptuous of Indian writings on relations with or developments in Pakistan, but if one overlooks the pro-Islamabad trappings from his book, one will not find his thesis sharply different from that of Indian students of Chinese developments. Syed, who lives abroad (in Canada or USA), had the advantage of long and significant discussions with Pakistani leaders and diplomats and has also used a good many available English language materials. He traces the development of Sino-Pakistan relations from 1949 onwards. … . Syed gives a detailed account of the developments of Sino-Pakistani relationship up till and including the Indo-Pak war of 1965. He ends by a briefer consideration of Peking’s role during the conflict in Bangladesh and takes a bird’s eye-view of the problem of Pakistan’s foreign policy, in terms of its security, particularly in relation to USA, USSR, China and India. Although aware of its limitations, Syed believes that Pakistan was the major beneficiary of the Sino-Pak relationship and that Peking did not ask for very much in return.

Continue reading this review