On Aug. 1, local government officials in China's Xinjiang province alleged that the ringleader of a deadly attack in Kashgar had been trained in Pakistan. The accusation has injected some sourness into a bilateral relationship often described as "sweeter than honey."
In fact, contrary to the sappy rhetoric, China-Pakistan ties have rarely been trouble-free -- and the points of tension long predate what happened in Kashgar.
One example is the plight of Pakistan-based Chinese nationals. According to estimates gathered from Pakistani and Chinese media sources, about 35 Chinese workers were kidnapped, killed or maimed in the country between 2004 and 2010. This violence mostly occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Baluchistan provinces, home to the majority of China's $15 billion worth of economic projects in Pakistan.