indiaUpdated: Dec 30, 2020, 04:49 ISTPakistan has increasingly become a pawn of China and the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan has opened options for Beijing to expand its influence in the region through Islamabad, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria said on Tuesday. Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria said India’s “most important” national security challenge is to understand China, its “possible game plan” and the deepening and evolving Sino-Pak relationship. “Pakistan has increasingly become a pawn in Chinese policy. The Air Chief Marshal said coercion and economic dependence are being used as tools for making weaker countries accept one-sided actions, in an apparent reference to China. Without naming China, Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria also referred to the “debt-trap diplomacy” to achieve geopolitical goals by ensnaring the recipient countries with loans that cannot be repaid.

Source: Hindustan Times December 29, 2020 20:13 UTC