What prompted China to support Pakistan during the Bangladesh war for independence despite Pakistan being a NATO ally. Not to mention that they were far less socialist compared to India?

by TreadOnThemAlt

I'm sorry if this question has been asked a lot

I initially asked this on a communism subreddit but I believe they have me shadowbanned.

I'm not much of a history buff but I never understood this? Bangladesh was poised to become a valuable asset of the USSR and India to leverage Pakistan (which, to my knowledge was closely aligned with NATO) and yet China took the side of Pakistan?

Does their support of Pakistan come from the 1962 war China had with India, or maybe the sino Soviet split? Or was it from Kissingers political wheeling and dealing?

TheRedmex

India was supporting the Bangladeshis in their war for independence, China and India were already openly hostile to each other mainly due to the Sino- Indian war of 1962 , ongoing border skirmishes and that India granted the Dalai Llama asylum in 1959 which led to years of unrest in Tibet. China supporting Pakistan was a strategic move to undermine India regional power by either weakening it militarily or economically. Thus it was seen as another proxy war of the Cold War on a global level.