‘Iron brothers’: How China and Pakistan built an unlikely 75-year bond

On May 21, Pakistan and China celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations, marked by a 1963 territorial agreement in which Pakistan ceded control of the Shaksgam Valley to China. This decision was driven by strategic logic, as China had recently defeated India in the 1962 war. Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar emphasized the converging vision and symbols of friendship that unite the two nations, despite their ideological differences.