A Joint Seminar of NDU - National Defence University

SESSION FIVE
KEY ISSUES IN REGIONAL SECURITY: ENHANCING BILATERAL COOPERATION
Introduction
Former Foreign Secretary Dr. Tanvir Ahmad Khan chaired the final session; Mr.
Liu Jianfei from China and Ambassador Khalid Mahmood from Pakistan were the
presenters. The discussion encompassed the issues as: erosion of state sovereignty in
the wake of extra regional presence in South Asia, inclination to act as regional
hegemon or proxy and persistence of hotbeds of conflict due to side stepping of
people’s right of self determination and principles of international legitimacy. The
session also hashed out the idea that strategic convergence between Pakistan and
China carries the potential of playing critical role in remobilizing structures of peace and
progress. The prolific session was wrapped up by the chair.
Speaker 1: Mr. Lieu Jianfei
The tragic incident of 9/11 changed the shape of international relations. New
doctrine of engagement was introduced and the US found new partners in the region in
order to eliminate the menace of terrorism. The main agenda behind establishment of
new political groups was to stop the extremism, terrorism and separatism. Terrorist
activities started from the Afghanistan spread to the neighboring countries and
especially Pakistan suffered frequent bombing in this regard. The security situation in
Pakistan became worst and lot of civilians and armed forces personals lost their lives. In
2011, Osama Bin Laden also died in Pakistan in a US strike which downgraded the
Pak-US relations. On the other hand, Pakistan is a strategically important country and
enjoys great development potential. Blessed with a huge population, Pakistan has a
bulk of human resource which can be effectively used for development purposes.
China, at present, is at the key moment for its modernization. China needs to
stick to the road of peaceful development, needs to conduct cooperation with all
countries around the world in order to maintain a peaceful and stable international
environment, particularly a secure and stable surrounding environment. Therefore,
China and Pakistan should make joint efforts to achieve strategic collaboration in
politics and security, and to achieve an effective maintenance of regional peace.
37