Office of the Historian

162. Article in the President’s Daily Brief1

Washington, January 12, 1980

CHINA-PAKISTAN:

Response to invasion of Afghanistan

In a reversal of its earlier policy, China is now prepared to provide arms to the Afghan rebels.2

The Chinese are seeking Pakistani “approval in principle” for such a move, [1½ lines not declassified].

Beijing reportedly has also told the Pakistanis that it is urging the US to renew substantial arms shipments to Pakistan and to revitalize the 1959 US-Pakistan security treaty. The Chinese, [1½ lines not declassified] fear that a “partial” US response to Pakistan would signal a lack of US determination to confront Soviet aggression. China may also increase its own military and economic aid to Pakistan after Foreign Minister Huang Hua’s visit to Islamabad late next week.

Over the longer term, Beijing may try to create a “regional alignment of forces” against Moscow, according to one Chinese official. Some Chinese diplomats hope that the Afghan crisis will lead to increased cooperation between Beijing and New Delhi, but we see little prospect of this in the near term with Indira Gandhi back in power.

  1. Source: Central Intelligence Agency, Office of the Director of Central Intelligence, Job 81B00401R: Subject Files of the Presidential Briefing Coordinator for DCI (1977–81), Box 8, Afghanistan Crisis—January 1980, PDBs. Top Secret; For the President Only. The full version of this President’s Daily Brief was not filed with this collection. The article printed here was found in this form.↩
  2. An intelligence cable prepared in the Department of Defense, January 10, reported on a series of meetings that took place in London starting on January 6 between representatives of Norinco, a Chinese manufacturer of military hardware, and Afghan “liberation leaders.” The cable noted that the Chinese “are prepared to accept political risk vis-à-vis USSR of their hardware being picked up on battlefield and being identified as of PRC origin.” (Department of Defense, Afghan War Collection, Box 5, PRC Support for Insurgents) A news wire item from Islamabad, January 17, reported that China informed Pakistan “that it has no intention of becoming physically involved in any confrontation with the Soviets over Afghanistan,” but it pledged to support the Afghan rebels with “moral and material means.” (“China to Aid Afghan Rebels with Moral, Material Means,” Washington Post, January 18, 1980, p. A12)↩