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University of Reading Pakistan’s Alliance Making with People’s Republic of China From 1990-2010: Challenges and Counter-Measures Doctor of Philosophy Department of Politics and International Relations Safdar Hussain April 2018 Abstract This empirical research sets out to explore the complex domestic dynamics that shape Pakistan’s contemporary alliance making with China. The study examines the actual and potential domestic political challenges to the endurance of Pakistan-China alliance. The research also aims to assess Pakistani security elites’ efforts and strategies to overcome those challenges. The leading approaches in international politics that seek to explain the logic of external alliances – Realism, Liberalism, and Constructivism – do not elucidate Pakistan-China alliance in depth. While there is an inordinate amount of literature concerning the Pakistan-China relations, the literature on maintenance of this alliance is relatively scarce. Besides, scholars have neglected the way in which Pakistan has promoted its alliance with China domestically. This work aims to fill this gap in the literature. Interpreting from the perspective of Security Elite Domestic Propaganda and International Alliance (SEPIA), this study will show that while the alliance with China is essential for Pakistan to contain the military threat posed by India, such an alliance meets with overt challenges from the Pakistani society. Specifically, the Pakistani popular support for Uighur separatism and terrorist attacks against Chinese targets confront the Pakistani security elites with the need to promote the alliance on the domestic level through a robust propaganda campaign. This study, therefore, evaluates the propaganda strategies of the security elites to cultivate the Chinese alliance within the national society. While exposing Pakistani state propaganda, the research focuses to highlight the apprehension of the Pakistani elite towards their public. This works relies on qualitative methods including documentary analysis and elites interviews. The sources used include Pakistani cultural textbooks, security elites’ newspaper articles and lawmakers’ speeches to investigate the key propaganda themes aiming to legitimising the alliance. The autobiographies and other sources held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are also utilised. i Table of contents Abstract ... .......................................................................................................................... i Table of contents ............................................................................................................. iii List of figures ................................................................................................................... vi List of tables .................................................................................................................... ix Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... x Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ xii Authorship of original contributions ............................................................................ xiv Introduction ......................................................................................... 1 Thesis objectives .......................................................................................................... 4 Research questions ...................................................................................................... 4 Research argument ...................................................................................................... 5 Contributions of the research ...................................................................................... 6 Significance of the research ......................................................................................... 7 Alliance, Awkward alliance and Propaganda ............................................................... 9 A critique of previous literature and theoretical conceptualisation ......................... 15 Alliance literature and Realism .................................................................................. 18 Realist approach ......................................................................................................... 19 Classical Realism ......................................................................................................... 20 Social Constructivism ................................................................................................. 38 Assumptions of Liberalism ......................................................................................... 43 Realist paradigm vs Constructivism ........................................................................... 47 Bridging the divide: SEPIA - A Realist perspective ..................................................... 48 Pertinent literature on Pakistan-China relations ....................................................... 48 Pakistan-China alliance in the Pakistani textbooks .................................................... 56 Significance of textbooks to study Sino-Pakistan relations ....................................... 59 Research methods, sources and barriers ................................................................... 60 Limitations of the research ........................................................................................ 62 Content analysis ......................................................................................................... 63 iii Organisation of the thesis .......................................................................................... 64 Need for an Alliance .......................................................................... 67 BoT theory .................................................................................................................. 67 BoT and Pakistan’s Drive for Security ........................................................................ 69 Elements Upsetting Islamabad’s Threat Level ........................................................... 72 Pakistan’s Afghanistan conundrum ........................................................................... 85 Implication of Walt’s theory for Pakistan need for Alliances .................................... 91 Pakistan-China Alliance .............................................................................................. 92 Threats to the Alliance and Fears of Pakistan’s Security Elites ........ 97 Evolution of extremism, terrorism and fundamentalism in Pakistani society ........ 101 Talibanisation and Uighur Separatism ..................................................................... 109 China’s Dissent with Pakistan .................................................................................. 120 Pakistan’s fears and worries .................................................................................... 123 Terrorist attacks on the Chinese in Pakistan............................................................ 127 Anti-Communism views in Pakistan ......................................................................... 135 Textbooks and Propaganda ............................................................. 141 Pakistan-China: An awkward alliance ...................................................................... 143 Textbooks as an instrument of state supremacy ..................................................... 144 Process of textbook approval in Pakistan ................................................................ 150 Process of textbooks development and approval ................................................... 153 Propaganda themes: The contents and messages .................................................. 158 Newspaper Articles and Propaganda .............................................. 218 Sampling of newspaper articles ............................................................................... 218 Security ..................................................................................................................... 223 Sino-Indian rapprochement and the Pak-China alliance ......................................... 241 Significant events and public propaganda ............................................................... 258 iv 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations and Hu Jintao visit ................................... 268 Pakistan and world power China ............................................................................. 279 Compatibility between Islam and Communism ....................................................... 286 Content analysis of the National Assembly and Senate debates .. 291 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 291 A note on the Majlis-e-Shoora [parliament] and its sessions .................................. 292 Parliamentary Years and Sessions............................................................................ 294 Content analysis of the parliamentary debates ....................................................... 294 Security threats to the Chinese Citizens and Uighurs separatism ........................... 299 Incredible alliance .................................................................................................... 309 Chinese support: A must for Pakistan’s