Acknowledging Washington’s policy of pressure on Islamabad-Beijing relations and expecting Pakistan to take a biased approach to China, the Pakistani Prime Minister stressed: “We will not succumb to US and Western pressure to deteriorate our relations with Beijing.”
Pakistani official sources quoted Imran Khan as saying in an interview with China International Television (CGTN) on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister of Pakistan described the US pressure against Pakistan to reduce relations with China as unfair and added: “Our relations with the Chinese are very deep and have a history of 70 years and we will not pay any attention to foreign pressures.”
He said it was not fair for the United States or other Western powers to expect Pakistan to take a biased approach to China.
Imran Khan, who has recently taken a strong stance against any US attempt to infiltrate Pakistan militarily under the pretext of gaining a military base, stressed: “Regardless of any pressure or incident, Pakistan’s relations with China will never change.”
Emphasizing Pakistan’s commitment to developing relations with all countries, he said the United States was trying to complicate the situation by forming a so-called regional alliance (the Quad Alliance).
Pakistani officials are concerned about Washington’s confrontational approach to China and its escalation as the new US administration takes office. Islamabad has repeatedly stated its readiness to help defuse tensions between the United States and China, emphasizing that Pakistan wants equal and beneficial relations with both countries and considers any rivalry and Cold War to be to the detriment of their interests in the region.
“Pakistan is ready to mediate between the two countries and can act as a bridge between them,” Pakistan’s foreign minister said in early February, stressing that the United States should not consider Islamabad-close relations with Beijing to be detrimental.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the United States that they should understand that Pakistan’s relationship with China is not to their detriment.
Pakistani officials have always expressed concern about escalating tensions between the United States and China, and have even offered to mediate between the two powers after Trump’s presidency ended and Joe Biden took office.
Pakistan, which on the one hand has China as its powerful neighbor and first economic partner, on the other hand has to work with the United States to provide other economic, security and even military benefits. The situation in Afghanistan has also made Islamabad aware of any tensions in its dealings with Washington or even the US Cold War with China as Pakistan’s strategic partner.
