Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said he would like Pakistan to play the role of a bridge between China and the United States, rather than play a part in exacerbating tensions or \u201cbeing a geopolitical football\u201d.<\/p>\n
The foreign minister made these remarks while answering a series of questions during an interview with Foreign Policy on Islamabad\u2019s ties with Washington and Beijing, particularly in the context of assistance pledged and provided by the two in the wake of calamitous floods.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat China does \u2014 whether it\u2019s with Sri Lanka or Pakistan \u2014 that\u2019s totally China\u2019s decision. Just like it\u2019s 100 per cent America\u2019s decision in either of these circumstances,\u201d he said after Foreign Policy\u2019s Ravi Agarwal pointed out that Beijing \u201chasn\u2019t quite come to Pakistan\u2019s aid in a big way\u201d after this year\u2019s catastrophic floods and that even Sri Lanka wasn\u2019t able to get much help from China in the wake of an economic crisis.<\/p>\n
Bilawal went on to say: \u201cRather than being a point of competition or a venue for these divisions (between China and the US) to be exacerbated, I would like Pakistan to continue to play a role that we have in the past. Pakistan originally played a bridge between China and the US, resulting in diplomatic relations between the two countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd right now, particularly when we\u2019re drowning in floods, I don\u2019t want to play any part in exacerbating any tensions or being a geopolitical football.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this time of great geopolitical division, I would much rather play the role of a bridge by uniting these two great powers around working together for climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n
The foreign minister hoped that \u201cperhaps, Pakistan\u2019s unique position as a friend of both the US and China could encourage cooperation on this front\u201d.<\/p>\n
Bilawal\u2019s remarks come against the backdrop of China and the US engaging in a war of words over assistance for debt and flood relief to Pakistan to help it cope with the consequences of this year\u2019s deluges.<\/p>\n
On Monday, US State Secretary Antony Blinken had called on Pakistan to seek debt relief from China while reiterating Washington\u2019s support to Islamabad in these challenging times.<\/p>\n
The remarks had drawn a censorious response from China, whose foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin had called out the US for \u201cpassing unwarranted criticism against Pakistan-China cooperation\u201d and urged it to do something \u201creal and beneficial\u201d for the people of Pakistan.<\/p>\n
For his part, Bilawal has called on both the world powers to set aside their differences and work together to deal with the challenge of climate change.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Foreign Policy, Bilawal asserted that \u201cnot everything is about the geopolitical conflict of the US and China.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think it\u2019s preposterous that we\u2019re even having that conversation while talking about my country\u2019s survival and our ability to deal with cataclysmic flooding\u2014it\u2019s absolutely ridiculous. We won\u2019t be able to confront climate change if the United States and China don\u2019t work together\u201d.<\/p>\n
In this connection, the foreign minister also explained that the relationship between China and Pakistan had \u201clong, bipartisan roots\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added that Pakistan had wanted to be friends with China when no one else did. \u201cNow, everybody wants to be friends with China,\u201d he commented, as he went on to elaborate on how China had come to Pakistan\u2019s help in recent times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said he would like Pakistan to play the role of a bridge between China and the United States, rather than play a part in exacerbating tensions or \u201cbeing a geopolitical football\u201d. The foreign minister made these remarks while answering a series of questions during an interview with Foreign Policy on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286387,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[555,18,808,20,444],"class_list":{"0":"post-286382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-bilawal-bhutto-zardari","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-pakistan","12":"tag-us"},"yoast_head":"\n