Pakistan gets 50 fighter jets from China

China agreed to immediately provide 50 JF-17 fighter jets to Pakistan, officials in Islamabad said, one of the outcomes of Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani?s visit to Beijing this week that is expected to create discomfort in India.

The jets, produced jointly by the two nations, would be upgraded with more sophisticated avionics and will apparently be paid for by China, as Islamabad?s ties with Beijing get cosier, possibly at the cost those with New Delhi and Washington.

The announcement comes curiously close to the May 2 U.S. operation to kill al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in a covert operation within Pakistan that has pulled relations between the two ?strategic partners? to a new low.

Pakistan?s parliament had last week called for ties with the United States to be ?revisited?, while top government execs, including Prime Gilani, had rapped America for violating its sovereignty by coming in to kill bin Laden unannounced.

The U.S. seemed defiant of Pakistani flak, as it said it would do this again if needed, while voices within the American government pulled up Pakistan for apparently ?not knowing? that the world?s most wanted terrorist was lodged just 60 km from its capital city.

Questions have been raised over the aid Washington provides to Pakistan, some $20 billion since 2001, but President Barack Obama seemed firm that he wanted the south Asian nation?s cooperation to combat terror.

But with American lawmakers clamouring to suspend, cut or at least reconsider the aid given to Pakistan and ties between the two nations clearly in testy waters, it remains to be seen how Pakistan?s move to apparently shop for alternatives to Washington, goes down with the U.S.

Gilani?s four-day visit to China and the defence ?gift? from the Indian rival, could also raise concerns in New Delhi which already eyes U.S. F-16 fighter jet deals with Pakistan, and Beijing?s increasing influence in India?s backyard, warily.

However, the bolstered friendship between Pakistan and China, could bring the U.S. closer to India, which at present treads gingerly when pushing for New Delhi?s concerns, like curbing Pakistan-branded terror against India, in Islamabad.