China and pakistan are preparing to play a new diplomatic game together in South Asia. china and pakistan are preparing to form a new group in this region, which can replace the South Asian countries' organization SAARC. china is the brain behind this project, while pakistan and bangladesh are supporting it together.
According to reports, pakistan and bangladesh were also present in the meeting held in Kunming, china on june 19. The entire plan for the new group was prepared in this meeting. This meeting was held after the trilateral meeting held in May, in which the expansion of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and increasing regional cooperation in Taliban-ruled afghanistan were discussed.
The SAARC organization is inactive since 2016
The South Asian Regional Cooperation Organization (SAARC) was established on December 8, 1985 in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It had 7 founding members, while afghanistan joined the group in 2007. However, this organization has been inactive since 2016. Its last meeting was held in Kathmandu in 2014. The 19th SAARC Summit was to be held in Islamabad in november 2016, but india boycotted pakistan after the uri attack. 17 indian soldiers were martyred in this attack.
China and pakistan agree to form a new group
Afghanistan, bangladesh and bhutan also withdrew from the summit citing concerns of terrorism and regional interference. The conference was canceled and has not been rescheduled since then. The Express Tribune report said that both pakistan and china are convinced that a new organization for regional integration and connectivity is the need of the hour.
Bangladesh rejected the plan of a new group
The report said that SAARC members including Sri Lanka, maldives and afghanistan are expected to be part of the new group. However, bangladesh has rejected the idea of any emerging alliance between Dhaka, beijing and Islamabad and said the meeting between the three countries in Kunming, china was not "political".
Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser M Touhid Hussain said after the meeting in Kunming on june 19 that we are not going to form any new alliance. He said, "This was an official level meeting, not a political one. There was no discussion about the formation of any alliance in it."
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