China and Pakistan Mull a Beijing-led Alternative to SAARC

Sudha Ramachandran

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The China-India tussle for influence in South Asia can be expected to intensify should Pakistan and China’s plans for setting up a new regional organization materialize.

According to a report in the Pakistani English daily, Express Tribune, the proposed regional grouping “could potentially replace the now-defunct South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).” According to “diplomatic sources familiar with the development,” the discussions between Pakistan and China are reportedly “at an advanced stage.”

South Asia is among the least integrated regions in the world; intra-regional trade accounts for barely 5-7 percent of its total international trade. South Asian countries struggle with common problems like poverty, climate change and human trafficking that could be better tackled through cooperation.

In 1985, seven South Asian countries — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka — came together to found SAARC; Afghanistan joined as the eighth member in 2007. Among its objectives were economic and regional integration to enhance the quality of life of its people.

However, SAARC’s performance over the past four decades has been below par. Decisions are made by consensus, and the India-Pakistan rivalry paralyzed its functioning.

Pakistan would “indirectly target” India at summits, and “try to get the other members to gang up against Delhi,” a retired Sri Lankan foreign secretary told The Diplomat in 2019. As for India, “it refused to move beyond its concerns over terrorism linked to Pakistan, which was a bilateral issue.”

Caught in the crossfire, SAARC stagnated.

Then in 2016, India drove the final nail in SAARC’s coffin when it boycotted the summit that Islamabad was to host. India’s boycott came in response to a terror attack on an Indian army camp in Kashmir in September 2016, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka followed suit and withdrew from the summit. It was cancelled, and no SAARC summits have been held since.