The situation between India and Pakistan remains at a stalemate. As of April 26th local time, the two countries have been in continuous clashes for two days, though the scale of the conflicts has not been large. However, as long as both sides do not sit down to negotiate, there is a high possibility of a fourth Indo-Pakistani war. Under these circumstances, Trump, who was expected by the outside world to mediate, is unwilling to intervene.

Not long ago, Trump accepted an interview on Air Force One, stating that they (the two countries) can solve their own problems. Even, Trump said that these two countries have been fighting for over a thousand years. It seems that Trump also knows that the U.S. does not currently have enough energy to get involved in another conflict; it's already quite something for them to deal with Putin.

In this situation, Pakistan made a special request to China. It can be said that our "iron brothers" are indeed very smart.

The latest news from Pakistan indicates that Finance Minister Asad Umar expressed hope that China would increase the existing currency swap quota between the two countries by RMB 10 billion. Moreover, he promised that Pakistan would issue Panda Bonds before the end of 2025.

This is clearly a gesture of goodwill towards China and is also considered an action to "de-dollarize". As early as October 2024, the People's Bank of China and the State Bank of Pakistan signed an agreement to increase the scale of bilateral currency swaps to RMB 30 billion, with a validity period of three years. Now that the three-year term has not yet arrived, Pakistan is requesting more, which is obviously directly related to the current situation.

Commentators believe that Pakistan may have the following two reasons for doing so:

On one hand, the current Sino-American tariff war has made the upper echelons of Pakistan fully realize the situation: the U.S. cannot suppress China, and the renminbi will continue to expand its global influence.

On the other hand, it cannot be ruled out that Pakistan is preparing for a possible major Indo-Pak war. For Pakistan, India's harassment on water resources is pushing the situation towards a full-scale war. Once such a major event occurs, the stability of the domestic currency becomes crucial, and the renminbi becomes the preferred choice.

It can be said that Pakistan's decision at this moment is quite wise. They know that if they were to directly ask China for military aid, it would be somewhat unrealistic. But the current request should not be unreasonable for China to reject. After all, continuously expanding the currency swap with brother countries is also beneficial to China. Not to mention, the Pakistani side has promised to issue Panda Bonds!

Perhaps everyone has noticed that despite the tension between India and Pakistan, none of the five permanent members of the Security Council—China, the United States, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom—have taken sides directly.

Experts generally believe that the reason why the five permanent members are not rushing to take sides is because they have all seen through the situation: Modi is merely putting on a show, making a statement regarding the terrorist attack. After all, this conflict between India and Pakistan arose due to a terrorist attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir where more than 20 people died, and Modi needs to give an account to the public. In fact, India's economy is at a crossroads, and Modi’s grand vision of bringing India into the ranks of developed countries by 2047 has yet to materialize. At this time, Modi does not want a major war to happen. Therefore, countries do not need to take sides now.

What will happen next between India and Pakistan remains uncertain. As peace-loving Chinese citizens, we hope both sides can remain restrained. We will continue to follow the developments closely.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7497826512121381439/

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