Dr Yukteshwar Kumar, Course Director of Chinese Stream, University of Bath, UK, has taught and researched for many years in premier Indian and Chinese Universities.

Thirty-six seconds was all it took to shatter the confidence of China on the afternoon of 12 May, 2008.

A powerful earthquake, measuring almost eight on the Richter scale struck Sichuan province, a mountainous region in the southwestern part of China.

After a chaotic start to the rescue process, the Chinese Communist Party projected Prime Minister Wen Jiabao as the public face of hope, comfort and empathy. And Wen did not disappoint. Braving bad weather, he remained calm during rescue sessions, motivating officials by his mere presence on the field.

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Today, when the global economy has logged its worst performance since the 1930s, Wen once again is being seen as a possible hero who can arrest the slide. At the World Economic Summit last month at Davos, Switzerland, the world listened to the Chinese Prime Minister in rapt attention. Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has already called China "the most important country to help responsibly" in the current financial crisis. And with good reason too.

China has a very large stake in the US economy. It holds over US $1 trillion in US treasury bonds, and this could be a good incentive for China to find a solution to the current crisis.

But can Wen also turn himself into an apostle of peace and harmony for the people of India and the world at large?

China, after all, is the only country that can pressurise Pakistan to dismantle its terrorist outfits and stop the ISI from anti-India activities.

It would be in China's interest to do so because Pakistani and Afghan supported terrorists have already killed several Chinese engineers in their own territory and played havoc in Muslim-dominated western provinces of China-- Xinjiang and Ningxia, where Uighur nationalists are already waging a war.

Pakistan will not heed US advice and has already fooled the US. On the pretext of dismantling terrorist outfits, Pakistan has secured millions of dollars from former President George Bush. At least 25 per cent of those funds went to the ISI and senior Pakistani military bosses, who used these funds to support terrorists organisations like LeT (Lashkar-e-Toiba) and JuD (Jamaat-ud-Dawah).

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Pakistan had also openly said that it has given a blank cheque to China to handle the post 26/11 tangle between Pakistan and India. China's young envoy, He Yafei, was sent first to Pakistan and then to India in early January. He did nothing substantive to pressurise Pakistan.

On the other hand, he asked India to "de-activate" forward airbases and relocate troops to peacetime positions.

While New Delhi certainly would not like China to play the role of "mediator" between India and Pakistan, there is a lot China can do to end terrorism in the region by capitalising on its influence with Pakistan.

On February 12, Pakistani Internal Security Advisor, Rehman Malik made a tacit acknowledgement that only a "part" of the conspiracy for the 26/11 attack was hatched on Pakistan territory. The Pakistani confession partly comes after some advice from Chinese leaders. China knows that any escalation of tension in South Asia is not in its interest, especially in the backdrop of the current financial crisis.

China's advice to Pakistan was to own moral responsibility as people's sentiments were running high in India during an election year. If military hawks in India contemplated air raids, China would have been dragged into war (China has supported Pakistan in the past three Indo-Pak wars).

Pakistan, however, is still confident of tacit support from its "all weather friend" China.

China considers Pakistan as one of its two younger brothers — the other being North Korea. Sino-Pak friendship is not based on any cultural, religious, economic and trade links. It's a bond formed merely to counter the growth of India and foster the geo-political strategy of China in the south Asia.

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Immediately after taking over as President, Asif Ali Zardari said he was willing to visit China every three months and that "the future of the world lies in China". Zardari is trying his best to keep his promise and after his October 2008 visit to China, he is again on an official trip from February 20- 23.

Zardari is likely to visit Hubei province and Shanghai. Dai Bingguo, the Chinese leader who handles Sino-Indian border talks, is in charge of escorting the Pakistani President during his tour.

Pakistan has openly and unconditionally supported China on many international issues. Post the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, when China was totally isolated, the only help for China came from Pakistan in the UN headquarters. To placate Chinese leaders, Pakistan has thrice denied permission to the Dalai Lama to travel through its territory.

Sino-Pak bonhomie to counter the growth of India is well known, but the Chinese communist leaders must not forget that the source of their power lies in economic boom and trade. As long as the Chinese people are assured of wealth, demands for more liberty, democracy, freedom of speech and protection of human rights may take a backseat.

But things could change during a financial tsunami like the one we're seeing. While Pakistan runs the risk of going bankrupt like Iceland, India is an emerging economy. As the world reels under recession, China will be looking at the huge Indian population and its large middle class to boost exports.

China is India's second largest trade partner in the world, while Pakistan is only China's 15th largest trading partner in Asia. Sino-Indian trade is more than US $35 billion today, and it may grow to US $70 billion by the end of 2011.

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Sino-Pak trade volume is merely $6.8 billion, and even the most optimistic economist will predict that it will swell only to a mere $14 billion by 2011. A British report suggests that Pakistan could go bankrupt as early as March this year.

During his last visit to China, Zardari had already sought a loan of $1 billion to solve its financial crisis. It is expected that he might seek more financial support during his February sojourn to Shanghai.

By strengthening ties with Pakistan, China in return will get a beggar consistently knocking on its door. Terrorists will consistently kill its engineers and it will have to face another conundrum --- like what India faces in Kashmir -- in Xinjiang, where separatist forces are already getting support from Pakistani and Afghan terrorists.

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If China's annual economic growth goes below the six per cent mark and it slips into economic recession, the country could see riots in industrial cities and rural areas that have a huge jobless labour force. Demands for democracy, human rights and freedom of speech would rise. And militant nationalism supported by terrorism from Pakistan and Afghanistan would worsen the situation.

By pressurising Pakistan to disengage itself from anti-India activities and forging ties with India, Chinese leaders could bolster their economy and save the world from terrorism and financial recession.

India or Pakistan: The choice is yours, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao!

(The views expressed in the article are the author’s and not of Sify.com.)

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