The unholy nexus of China-Pakistan-Turkey to be viewed with utmost caution as they use global platforms to sustain and propagate their vested interests, according to a think tank.

As per International Forum For Rights And Security (IFFRAS), the China-Pakistan-Turkey nexus put forth a very dangerous narrative, devoid of freedom for the liberal world that otherwise harps on democracy and a rights centric approach towards establishing a global rule-based order.

An interesting discernible pattern is that when China is at the helm of affairs in an international organisation, it immediately aids the entry of similar authoritarian regimes such as Turkey and Pakistan.

As is seen, Turkey has aligned with Pakistan and China in its own self-interest in order to rise to a position of prominence, says IFFRAS.

Over the years, China and Turkey have also been strengthening their economic and strategic ties with Pakistan. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have ambitions to reclaim the glory of Turkey’s erstwhile Ottoman Empire as the leader of the Muslim world.

Turkey which has been embroiled in various wars with many foreign states in the past has been reeling under severe financial difficulties. China’s BRI has given the country strategic depth as a trade and transport hub by interlinking the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe.

In fact, Turkey’s own Middle Corridor connectivity project to access the Caucasus and Central Asia through the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway line has been harmonized with the BRI objective and its investments.

Piggybacking on China, Turkey has been benefitting from the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and also as an observer at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), says the think tank.

Turkey is also being increasingly referred to as a Chinese Client State. The Chinese influence has become so pervasive that Turkey despite being very vocal about the plight of Rohingyas has maintained a measured silence on the Uyghurs.

President Erdogan who otherwise takes pride in positioning himself as the Caliph of the Muslims has deliberately ignored the allegations of Chinese racial genocide of the Uyghur Muslim community in China’s Xinjiang province.

Moreover, fuelled by a radical Islamic thought process oriented towards expanding ties based on religion, Turkey has undoubtedly become closer to Pakistan over the years.

The two countries have also been working on a high-level military arrangement possibly involving the sharing of technology related to the development of nuclear weapons, says IFFRAS.

Turkey has even appeased Pakistan by supporting Pakistani establishments, at times even radical separatists/terror groups with financial and political support.

Further, Turkish media agencies have been actively involved in pushing the Pakistani narrative worldwide on contested issues in the subcontinent.

Both China and Turkey have in fact tried to bail out Pakistan repeatedly from the radar of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, where it has been put on the grey list owing to its linkages with terror groups.

The so-called iron brothers, China and Pakistan have also come to an agreement to strengthen their collaboration with the United Nations and other multilateral global organisations to support their core concerns.

Turkey and China have repeatedly spoken on issues in favour of Pakistan in the United Nations. While China has ensured Pakistan gets observer status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Pakistan is trying to include China in the SAARC.

All three countries: China, Turkey and Pakistan also attempt to keep the chair revolving amongst themselves in different international bodies to influence their functioning as well as to place their own representatives in decision making positions within these forums.

A recent study revealed that China is in an overriding position in numerous vital multilateral forums, with both preferred personnel and prioritised funding, reported IFFRAS.

In International Telecommunications Union (ITU), China influences rules that suit the ill-famed Huawei to become a key performer and helps in its expansion. While in the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), China uses the platform to endorse its geo-economic ambitions in the form of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

In the aviation sector which has both civilian and military implications, China’s placement at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), ensured the exclusion of Taiwan in discussions regarding air navigation and safety standards.

Similarly, China pressurised the World Health Organization towards taking a sympathetic stand towards it despite widespread criticism about its handling of the pandemic, attempts at keeping its origin discreet and thwarting the fact-finding team from doing a thorough study.

China also promoted certain favoured institutions in the last decade like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, BRICS, New Development Bank, and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade agreement (RCEP) while deliberately trying to sideline other forums such as the SAARC, NATO, ASEAN which it believed were detrimental to its rise and singular dominance in many ways.

This multi-layered objective comprises generating new global norms for the governance of critical new age technology, finances, infrastructure, human resource and manipulating the entire process of globalisation towards establishing the dominance of China’s communist State.

Terms such as the wolf-warrior ambassadors, debt trap, the Health Silk road, the Digital Silk Road, Space Silk Road, and Cheque book negotiations are all driven towards describing the nature of Chinese deliberations in international relations to achieve the country’s global ambitions, says the think tank.

This intensifying dominance in the international arena has been based on a multitude of economic factors ranging from China’s amplified monetary support to the United Nations, both mandatorily as a UN member, as well as increasingly in the form of voluntary donations. China is the second-largest donor with 12 per cent mandatory contributions and is the fifth largest voluntary donor to the UN.

China has very strategically devoted its energy, people and expertise to building credibility and shaping developmental goals through global institutions from the prism of its own interests, opines the think tank.