Pakistan
Reports
"[Yet the PTI has the political capital to make a stand. It enjoys widespread support, credibility among Islamists, and unprecedented backing from the country’s most powerful institution, the army.] This was the time to push back."
[While China was initially focused on former premier Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, or PML-N,] Beijing has diversified its contacts and investments in Pakistan... Khan does not have a lot of wiggle room...We may continue to see a gradual trend of Pakistan drifting closer to China and more distant from the United States. But that would have to do with a number of factors beyond Imran Khan’s election.
Certain traits of [Imran Khan]—his lack of desire to conduct politics as usual, his stubbornness—will mean that should his relationship with the military sour or cool off, he might falter more quickly than politicians in the past, and more badly. But once in power, he could also adapt.