The traditionally close relationship between China and Pakistan cooled off somewhat with the end of the Cold War, mainly due to China's efforts to improve its relations with India and the disappearance of the Soviet threat. While China has continued to pursue its rapprochement with India after 9/11, developments since 9/11 have reinforced the security foundations of Sino-Pak relations and have consequently reversed the downward trend in the relationship leading to enhanced cooperation in a number of areas. US involvement in Central Asia and deepening Indo-US collaboration have further increased Pakistan's strategic importance for China. Islamabad also occupies a prominent position in Beijing's energy security and its efforts to stabilize Xinjiang.

The accurate measurement of CO₂ emissions is helpful for realizing the goals of “carbon neutralization” and “carbon peak”. However, most current research on CO₂ emission measurements utilizes the traditional energy balance coefficient and top-down methods. The data granularity is large, and most studies are concentrated at the national, provincial, municipal, or district/county administrative unit scale. As an important part of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area of China, the Pearl River Delta region has good nighttime light vitality and faces huge carbon emission pressure. Using the Pearl River Delta as the research area, this study constructed an optimized pixel-scale regression model based on NPP-VIIRS (The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite on the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership spacecraft) nighttime light data and CO₂ emissions data at the district and county levels for 2017. In addition, the spatial pattern of CO₂ emissions in the Pearl River Delta was analyzed based on the predicted CO₂ emission status. The results showed that the spatial pattern of CO₂ emissions in the Pearl River Delta had the distinct characteristics of the “center-edge” effect, the spatial spillover effect, and high-value aggregation, which should be considered when making related social or public decisions.