Anonymous
China will give Pakistan 50 fighter jets, Pakistani officials said Thursday—less than a week after Pakistan’s top spy chief slammed the U.S. for infringing on Pakistan’s sovereignty in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. The fighter jet deal will be effective immediately and came as the result of Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s visit to Beijing this week. Many saw Gilani’s trip as a way for Pakistan to disentangle itself from an overdependence on the $20 billion in aid the U.S. provides—which some U.S. officials have threatened to remove in the wake of learning of bin Laden’s location. China and Pakistan developed the fighter jets together, but the new planes being sent to Pakistan will be more sophisticated and will be paid for by China. China is Pakistan’s largest trading partner, and Pakistan refers to China as an “all weather friend.”