Amid efforts to balance relations with the US and China, Pakistan says it can help bridge differences between the two world powers.
Relations between Washington and Beijing have been strained as they try to increase their global influence. Tensions stem mainly from disagreements over trade, Taiwan, the South China Sea and China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Although Pakistan is allied with the US for military cooperation and counter-terrorism efforts, it is heavily dependent on China to address its economic problems. Islamabad has strengthened economic ties with Beijing through initiatives such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
“Pakistan has the ability to act as a bridge between China and the United States,” the Pakistani ambassador to Washington Rizwan Saeed Shaikh was quoted by state-run Radio Pakistan on Friday.
The statement came hours after Pakistan’s Foreign Office announced that Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election on Thursday would not affect Pakistan’s relations with China. When asked about this matter, the spokesperson of the Pakistan Foreign Office, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, replied, “Pakistan’s relations with China are all seasonal.” They are strategic and a source of stability in our foreign policy.
Baloch said Islamabad did not need to consider the possibility that its relations with China would be affected by any domestic developments in the other country.
The complex rivalry between the US and China affects Pakistan as it manages strategic alliances with both powers in the face of a protracted economic crisis.
“Our relationship with the US is decades old, and we look forward to further strengthening and broadening Pakistan-US relations in all areas,” Baloch said. “We look forward to fruitful and mutually beneficial cooperation between Pakistan and the US,” Deputy Prime Minister (Ishaq Dar) said in a tweet yesterday.
During the Cold War, Pakistan and the US developed a close defense relationship, but their relationship was also put to the test due to differing priorities on various issues.
Relations between the two have soured in recent years as Washington accused Islamabad of aiding the Taliban in its 2021 takeover of Kabul, a charge Islamabad denies. Tensions between the two countries escalated after Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan alleged plans to oust the Biden administration through a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022, a claim the US denies.