The armies of China and Pakistan opened Karakoram 2026 on Wednesday the 14th, the first joint training between the two ground forces. The opening ceremony was held at a training base in Korla, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in north-western China.
The two countries have a long-standing military relationship, with arms sales and joint naval and air exercises. What is new here is the branch involved: until now, the armies themselves had never trained together.
What is on the programme
The exercise is described as geared towards counter-terrorism and area-clearance operations in high-altitude terrain. The published programme includes training in the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles, searching for and firing on moving targets, long-range sniping, as well as joint command exercises and manoeuvres with troops and live fire.
The announcement was made on Saturday the 10th by Chen Xi, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, at a press conference. The ministry then indicated the second half of October as the window for the exercise, without giving its duration or the number of personnel involved — figures that remain undisclosed.
All the equipment is Chinese
The point that drew analysts' attention is the list of materiel in use: all of it Chinese. It includes Type 191 rifles, Type 201 squad machine guns, Type 11 armoured assault vehicles, Type 08 infantry fighting vehicles, artillery, and unmanned and counter-drone systems. Pakistani troops are becoming acquainted with some of that equipment during the exercise itself.
Speaking to Global Times, the Chinese state newspaper, analyst Wang Yunfei said wheeled vehicles suit plateau terrain, being faster on roads and simpler to maintain than tracked ones. He assessed that the exclusive use of Chinese materiel points both to technology transfer and to possible future purchases by Pakistan. Analyst Zhang Jueshe, quoted by the same paper, said the two countries complement each other on counter-terrorism and suggested cooperation through intelligence and experience sharing.
This is a state outlet's reading of its own country's exercise, and should be read as such. Even so, the material fact — not a single Pakistani piece of equipment in an exercise held on Chinese soil — is verifiable, and supports the interpretation that the training also works as a showcase for China's defence industry before its main customer in the region.
No Pakistani account so far
Coverage of the exercise, including in Pakistan, has relied on Chinese state media — the China Military Bugle channel, Global Times and CCTV's military channel. The ISPR, the communications arm of Pakistan's armed forces, had not issued a statement of its own about the opening, and no Pakistani official had commented publicly.
The region hosting the exercise is not neutral in this context: Xinjiang borders Pakistan through the Karakoram corridor, the route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, an infrastructure project that has been the target of attacks on Chinese workers inside Pakistani territory. The declared emphasis on high-altitude counter-terrorism matches the geography of that border.
With information from Xinhua, Global Times, The Express Tribune and Anadolu Agency.
