Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar said Pakistan is not interested in picking sides between China and the US in the growing global rivalry between the two powers.
Talking to a European news outlet POLITICO, Khar insisted that Islamabad was apprehensive about the fallout of an all-out rupture between the US and China. In such an instance, Pakistan would be presented with an unfavourable strategic choice.
“We are highly threatened by this notion of splitting the world into two blocs,” Khar said, adding that the country is very concerned about this decoupling or anything that splits the world further.
She further said: “We have a history of being in a close, collaborative mode with the US. We have no intention of leaving that. Pakistan also has the reality of being in a close, collaborative mode with China, and until China suddenly came to everyone’s threat perception, that was always the case.”
Front-line states closely watch Pakistan in the contest for strategic influence in Asia.
Over the years, as Washington’s cooperation with India has increased, Pakistan has gotten closer to China — especially after the latter’s investment in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
However, Washington is still a significant military partner for Pakistan, while Beijing has recently pledged to deepen economic investment and military cooperation with the country.
In April this year, Khar made headlines when the Washington Post leaked records — termed Discord Leaks — of a discussion between her and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Per the leaked documents, Khar said that Pakistan should avoid appeasing the West and that its desire to maintain a strategic partnership with the US would sacrifice the full benefits of its original strategic partnership with the long-term friendly nation China.
While Khar refused to comment on that leak during the interview with POLITICO, she said the US was “unnecessarily” fearful and defensive about being toppled from its plinth of global leadership.
She argued that Pakistan’s partnership with the US remained vital in healthcare, technology, trade and combating climate change.
“I don’t think the leadership role is being contested, until they start making other people question it by being reactive,” she said.
“I believe that the West underestimates the value of its ideals, soft power,” she added, stressing Washington’s role as the world’s standard setter.
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