China and Pakistan in a Multipolar World: Reading the Chemistry in 2025 & Beyond

Talk by:
Prof. Ajay Darshan Behera
Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi 

This lecture examines the evolving China–Pakistan relationship against the backdrop of an increasingly fragmented and multipolar global order. Long described as an “all-weather partnership,” Beijing–Islamabad ties are being tested by shifting great-power rivalries, China’s economic recalibrations, Pakistan’s internal political and economic volatility, and intensifying regional pressures from India, the United States, and the wider Indo-Pacific. The discussion moves beyond symbolic rhetoric to assess the real strategic, economic, and security substance of the partnership in 2025 and beyond—particularly in the context of CPEC’s recalibration, China’s risk-averse global posture, and Pakistan’s search for strategic relevance. By situating China–Pakistan ties within broader Eurasian and Indo-Pacific dynamics, the lecture evaluates whether this partnership is adapting to multipolar realities or struggling under them. This talk by Prof. Behera will address: Is the China–Pakistan partnership deepening strategically, or becoming more transactional? How do India–China tensions and US-China rivalry reshape Beijing’s calculus on Pakistan? Can Pakistan remain a reliable strategic partner for China in a more cautious multipolar era?

About the speaker:

Prof. Ajay Darshan Behera is the Director of MMAJ Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi. Until recently, he served as the Coordinator of its Centre for Pakistan Studies.

Previously, he held several academic and research positions, including Officiating Director of the Centre for Strategic and Regional Studies at the University of Jammu, Assistant Research Professor at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi, and Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi. He was awarded the Kodikara Fellowship by the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, Colombo, in 1996. He has also been a Visiting Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at the Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C.

He is the author of Violence, Terrorism and Human Security in South Asia, and The Politics of Violence and Development in South Asia. He has also co-edited Pakistan in a Changing Strategic Context. He serves on the editorial boards of International Studies Perspective and the Journal of Peace Studies, and is currently the Domain Editor for South Asia for the journal Security Challenges.