China Demands Impossible Reforms from Pakistan

So-called “iron-clad” friendship on the line

By: Salman Rafi Sheikh

When Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif met Xi Jinping on his latest tour to China in early June, the outcome was little more than mere rhetoric. Most analysts saw it in terms of China giving Pakistan a cold shoulder, marking the beginning of the end of the so-called “iron-clad” friendship. Xi’s statement reported by China’s state media…