I was monitoring the feed from the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing this Sunday, watching the final signatures being placed on the Joint Press Communiqué, and one realization hit me harder than usual. While the rest of the globe is cracking under geopolitical pressure, the link between China and Pakistan isn’t just holding on—it is hardening into steel. The visit of our Deputy Prime Minister, Ishaq Dar, to Beijing this week was far more than the usual diplomatic pageantry or a routine checklist of bilateral obligations. It was a loud, deliberate signal sent to every capital—friend or foe—that the axis between Islamabad and Beijing remains the only real anchor of stability in this region.

On paper, they called this the “Seventh Round” of strategic talks. But if you have been in this game as long as I have, you know the round number doesn’t matter. The context does. Next year, we hit the 75-year mark as partners. That is three-quarters of a century. I have watched Western “allies” hug us one day and sanction us the next, depending on which way the political wind was blowing in Washington. China has never done that. They have stayed in........

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