How ‘Iron Brother’ China is boosting Pakistan’s military capability

Team TOI Plus
TIMESOFINDIA.COMUpdated: Mar 19, 2025, 22:54 IST IST

The Trump administration is unlikely to scale up security ties with Islamabad despite the latter’s cooperation in nabbing a key IS-K terrorist recently. This could potentially help China to maintain its position as the most trusted ally of Pakistan

China’s strategic partnership with Pakistan has deepened with the delivery of a second advanced Hangor-class submarine. This delivery, part of a $5bn agreement for eight such vessels, is expected to bolster Pakistan’s naval capabilities in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.
The submarine, launched in central China’s Wuhan, features cutting-edge weaponry and sensor technology.

Does Pakistan have any options other than China?With the US maintaining largely a transactional relationship with Pakistan, the latter is left with no option but to continue depending on its “iron brother” to boost its military capability.China has been the largest supplier of weapons to Pakistan, providing 81% of its advanced military systems over the past five years. This accounted for 63% of China’s total arms exports, valued at $5.28bn, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a leading conflict think tank.China’s growing security capabilities, coupled with its strengthening alliance with Pakistan, have substantially enhanced Beijing’s influence in South Asia, positioning it as a formidable rival to the US in the region. medium119210965 medium119210980Why Pakistan wants China on its sideRising tensions with India, particularly following a series of border skirmishes in 2016, have driven Islamabad to increase its defence spending, further strengthening its ties with Beijing.Pakistan has used submarines in the past to confront India as part of land wars. Prohibitions on dual military and civilian use of technology by European nations that make diesel submarines have left China as Pakistan’s best option for modern military equipment.The US used to be another major arms exporter to Pakistan but started limiting supplies “as it became dissatisfied with Pakistan’s efforts against the Taliban, Pakistan’s nuclear programme, and in general Pakistan’s lack of democratic development”, Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher at SIPRI, told the South China Morning Post.As China and Pakistan moved closer, clear lines were emerging in Asia between the “China camp” and the “non-China camp”, which included the US and India, he said, adding that arms sales played a part in their emergence.With inputs from agencies","@type":"NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-plus/international/how-iron-brother-china-is-boosting-pakistans-military-capability/articleshow/119210746.cms","inLanguage":"en","headline":"How ‘Iron Brother’ China is boosting Pakistan’s military capability","keywords":"trump,pakistan,hangor,arms","url":"https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-plus/international/how-iron-brother-china-is-boosting-pakistans-military-capability/articleshow/119210746.cms","datePublished":"2025-03-19T17:04:00+05:30","dateModified":"2025-03-19T22:54:00+05:30","description":"International News: The Trump administration is unlikely to scale up security ties with Islamabad despite the latter’s cooperation in nabbing a key IS-K terrorist recentl","thumbnailUrl":"https://static.toiimg.com/thumb/msid-119210820,width-1280,height-720,imgsize-105948,resizemode-6,overlay-toi_sw,pt-32,y_pad-40/photo.jpg","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Team TOI Plus","url":"https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toireporter/author-Team-TOI-Plus-479255230.cms"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Times Of India","url":"https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.toiimg.com/photo/msid-92877370/92877370.jpg","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.toiimg.com/thumb/resizemode-4,width-1280,height-720,msid-119210820/119210820.jpg","width":1280,"height":720},"isAccessibleForFree":false,"isPartOf":{"@type":["CreativeWork","Product"],"name":"Times of india","productID":"timesofindia.com:showcase"},"hasPart":{"@type":"WebPageElement","isAccessibleForFree":false,"cssSelector":".paywall"}}