this is almost a whole year late but in honor of the 70th anniversary of China-Pakistan relations in 2021, I drew China and @ask-pakistan's Pakistan celebrating together 🎉🎊
Some interesting historical notes:
Pakistan and China established relations on May 21, 1951 after the end of China's civil war. The two countries have a uniquely close diplomatic relationship despite having dramatically different histories, cultures, traditions, and beliefs. Their relationship began growing initially due to tensions with India, a shared neighbor, but has since developed far beyond.
The two countries share a land border between northeastern Pakistan and northwestern China. The leaders and high-ranking officials of both countries frequently visit each other and often praise their bilateral ties -- for instance, Pakistan-China relations have been described as "higher than mountains, deeper than oceans, stronger than steel, dearer than eyesight, and sweeter than honey."
Pakistan and China are currently co-developing several infrastructure projects (roads, highways, railways, ports, gas pipelines, solar farms, hydroelectric power, etc) in a project called the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is a major part of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The two countries call their bilateral relationship "iron brothers" and in Chinese, Pakistanis are nicknamed 巴铁/巴鐵 (pronounced bā tiě) which is short for 巴基斯坦铁哥们 (iron brothers in Chinese).
Pakistan facilitated the US President Nixon's historic visit to China in 1972 and China's reestablishment of formal diplomatic ties with many Western countries.
