Pakistan, Sept. 12 -- For most of its history, Pakistan has kept its strategic eggs largely in the American basket. From the Baghdad Pact-CENTO and SEATO during the Cold War to its designation as a major non-NATO ally in the War on Terror, Islamabad invariably aligned itself with Washington's regional objectives.

Yet, while Pakistan has long looked westward for strategic patronage, it lives next door to an emerging superpower. Geography has made China a permanent fact of Pakistan's existence in a way that no distant ally can ever be. Pakistan may periodically recalibrate its relations with Washington, but it cannot readjust the geography that binds it to China.

Ironically, the complication is that China today stands at the very centre o...