Beijing/Islamabad, Jan 27, 2026
Neither the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), nor the rhetoric of “brotherhood” can ensure the security of Chinese investments in the region as long as Pakistan continues to serve as a hub for jihadist and separatist organisations.
If Beijing turns a blind eye to the historical precedent, it risks facing severe consequences, not through deployed troops but dead citizens, stalled projects and a fracturing global image, a report said on Tuesday.
Writing for ‘EuropaWire’, Dimitra Staikou, a Greek lawyer, writer and journalist, stated that China has moved beyond mere generic assurances of “stability”, insisting on concrete enforcement capabilities on the ground.
“The creation of special units and joint training frameworks signals a silent renegotiation of power: Pakistan remains a crucial partner, but under increasingly stringent performance conditions. When a strategic ally is forced to restructure its internal security architecture to reassure a partner, cooperation has moved from ideological affinity to a stress test of endurance,” Staikou stated.
She highlighted that a series of militant attacks in Pakistan between 2024 and 2025 has severely undermined the security of Chinese citizens and joint projects.
“In March 2024, a suicide bombing in Shangla killed five Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver while en route to the Dasu hydropower project, one of CPEC’s flagship initiatives. In October 2024, an attack near Karachi’s international airport killed two Chinese workers, while earlier operations by the Baloch Liberation Army had already targetted Chinese interests in Balochistan. Repeated attacks by jihadist and separatist groups have become a source of growing tension, prompting Beijing to publicly demand stricter and more effective security measures,” Staikou detailed.
“As a result, while cooperation remains officially strong, realities on the ground increasingly call into question Pakistan’s capacity to guarantee the safety of Chinese projects and personnel, directly affecting the credibility of the partnership itself,” she further added.
According to the report, the presence and operational capability of the terrorist group ISIS-K in Pakistan during 2025 revealed that the threat had grown beyond the limits of state management and surveillance.
Despite Islamabad’s official pledges of “counterterrorism control”, it said, ISIS-K expanded both geographically and operationally, “with attacks, recruitment, and networking no longer confined to remote border areas but reaching urban centres, cross-border flows, and critical infrastructure”.
The attacks on Chinese citizens in South Asia, the report said, are no longer isolated incidents “but part of a broader terrorist logic cutting across organisations and geographies, with Pakistan at the core of this dangerous convergence.”(Agency)
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