China’s all-weather ally, Pakistan, is pivotal to the overall strategic architecture of the BRI. China’s interests in this neighboring country of 222 million people are grounded in the need to prevent the country—one of its only long-term allies—from becoming a failed state in the face of systemic economic decline and political instability. China is deeply concerned about the long-term Islamization of Pakistani politics and the security consequences of the rise of radical Islamist terror groups within the country, including their ability to threaten China’s many major BRI investments there.
