China’s doublespeak has been exposed once again. It has justified its ongoing joint air exercise “Shaheen-IX” with Pakistan, even though it had expressed apprehensions about India’s “Malabar exercise” last month.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin defended the “Shaheen-IX” exercise with Pakistan air force as a routine arrangement, which experts believe is reflective of a larger strategic posture towards India.
In response to a related question he said, the ongoing exercise was not targeting any third country. Air Forces of China and Pakistan are holding their annual exercise “Shaheen-IX” since 9th December in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province near the Indian border.
India recently hosted the Malabar 2020 naval exercise with the U.S., Japan, and Australia. This was the first time that four big democratic nations got together for this exercise. Commenting on the Malabar exercise last month, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had said, ” we hope that the relevant countries’ military exercise could be conducive to regional peace and stability, instead of working in the opposite way.”
A Chinese state media had termed the Malabar naval drill as “an ill-intentioned attempt to corner China”. India has categorically stated that the orientation of Malabar exercise has been towards “a free, open, inclusive Indo-Pacific as well as a rules-based international order”.
“Shaheen-IX” exercise came on the heels of the visit of China’s Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe to Pakistan during which the all-weather allies signed a new memorandum of understanding to deepen the practical cooperation between the two militaries.
All-weather friends, China and Pakistan share close military ties with Beijing emerging as a major weapons provider to Pakistan in recent years. The exercises are being held in the midst of an eight-month-long border standoff between India and China in eastern Ladakh with arch-rival Pakistan on India’s western borders.
Bhagyashree Gupta 
Balaji Subramanian 
Aayush Pal