At the recent ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference in Manila, the foreign ministers of the ten ASEAN countries and China signed a joint statement on the West Asia crisis. While maritime security or supply chain disruptions could have dominated the statement, its most interesting facet was Beijing getting ASEAN to back Pakistan-led mediation in West Asia.

The very first operative assertion of the statement declared ASEAN’s support for peace efforts “mediated by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the State of Qatar,” even as lip service was paid to “China’s effort in putting forth [a] four-point proposal” on peace in the region. This alignment in China and Pakistan’s diplomatic language on the war, proudly displayed across many multilateral forums, is something India must watch for at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Leaders’ Summit that is around the corner.

What does Beijing stand to get from promoting the canonisation of Islamabad’s mediation efforts? Why put President Xi Jinping’s own flagship proposal second, even as it is touted as the way to go in most Chinese foreign ministry briefings?

Broadly, it seems China is attempting to create, to borrow its own words, a “win-win” proposition for itself in the whole ordeal. If a front-and-centre Pakistan remains accountable at every step, the failures will be its own. If it succeeds — which initially seemed to be the case before the conflict restarted after a short pause — the paper trail created both by Beijing and Islamabad ensures........

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