Pakistan, May 9 -- After several weeks of delay, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet in Beijing this week with tariffs on the table, Taiwan in the background, technology controls in the bloodstream and Iran pressing against the edges of the conversation. Yet the real question remains harsh: can the world's two largest powers still bargain without making smaller states pay the premium?

Pakistan should watch this summit with a cold eye.

Thankfully, it does not enter this moment alone. Its relationship with China is not a short-lived affair and has survived wars, diplomatic isolation, economic fragility and the routine suspicion with which Western capitals have often treated Islamabad. Since 201...