It is an undeniable fact that South Asia is changing in ways that would not have been imaginable just a few years ago and Pakistan, along with China, is the main driver of this change. That is primarily because Pakistan is China’s main partner at a time when the Middle Kingdom is using a strategy that has been in play for about five decades to carve its image across the region. For it is a great testament to Chinese imagination, planning, development and growth that it is able to revive an ancient trade route in the 21st century and, what is more, it has the necessary financing power and more to make this vision a reality. The main spoilers in this remarkable makeover are the United States and its only real satellite in the region, India. Back when President Obama ran the White House, Washington devised what it considers its own ingenious Pivot to Asia policy which, for all the flowery language, was really meant only to check and contain China’s extraordinary growth and outreach. Washington realises, of course, that at this rate of growth Beijing will not just challenge but overtake the US in every way necessary to become the world’s leading superpower sometime in the middle of this century. And the way the Trump administration is on a mission to wreck America’s prestige and standing in the world community, that timeline could even be pushed ahead a little. Yet while the Americans like to hurt China directly the Indians do both, hit the Chinese and also discredit their crucial partner Pakistan. That is why Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was spot on the other day that under his watch Delhi’s narrative about Pakistan sponsoring terrorism all over the world all the time no longer sells so easily. Even the Americans have shifted from two decades of officially labelling Pakistan and its intelligence services sponsors of terrorists and terrorism to appreciating Islamabad’s help in settling the Afghan war. Going forward, all China and Pakistan really need to do is keep their eye on the ball and make sure nothing interrupts BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) or CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) because that is the best way of defeating any form of propaganda. When other nations see all the benefits enhanced trade in the modern era brings to everybody in the chain, surely they would also want to hop on instead of siding with the Americans and Indians to defeat to whole project. *