President Xi Jinping's just-concluded Islamabad visit, by unveiling agreements valued at $28 billion, shows that China has made Pakistan the central link between its dual Silk Road initiatives. While the maritime Silk Road is the meretriciously benign name for China's "string of pearls" strategy, the overland Silk Road project has been designed to advance Chinese interests in Central Asia, the Caspian Sea basin and beyond.
These initiatives are part of China's larger strategy to break out of the East Asia mold and become a more global power.
Xi has now embarked on connecting China's restive Xinjiang region with the Arabian Sea through a 3,000 km overland transportation corridor to Pakistan's Chinese-built Gwadar port. Known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, this $46 billion project through Pakistan-held Kashmir will hook up China's maritime and overland Silk Roads and increase Pakistan's pivotal importance for Beijing.