SINO PAKISTAN RELATIONS: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
On I October 1949, when the People's Republic of China came into being, Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, announced that PRC was ready to establish diplomatic relations "with any foreign government willing to observe the principle of equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity".1 Pakistan responded by recognizing the People's Republic of China on 4 January 1950, the third non Communist country to do so. Since then, Pakistan's policy towards China has been predicated on the realization of three factors discussed below.