Perceptions, Power, and Polarization: U.S. Strategic Views on Pakistan’s Emerging Alliance with China

Abstract

The research was carried out in investigating how the U.S. strategic decision makers perceived the deepening relationship between Pakistan and China. Qualitative content analysis was used in conjunction with policy documents, congressional testimony, think-tank stuff and open source security collection data. The central investigation was whether the assessment on Pakistan on the global scale has changed to focus on technologically advanced instruments. Its results revealed a strongly re-oriented U.S. attitude: Pakistan was being seen more and more as a key component of Chinese regional strategy. They linked this evolution, in part, to Pakistan developing cyber and network-centric capability, which was altering the U.S. calculus of military imbalance and risk of escalation especially relative to India. The reliance of the United States on India as the offshore balancing option to China, therefore, became very complicated, creating a question on whether to embrace or hedge the role of Pakistan. The study offers a contribution to the international relations theory because it was able to show how great powers form their strategy based on their perception of middle states. It also provides information on the way these changes can affect the state of regional stability and crisis management in South Asia.