Has Pakistan finally joined China camp?

Prime Minister Imran Khan at a recent event in Islamabad made it clear that Pakistan would not join any bloc. The statement was given against the backdrop of a potential Cold War between the US and China. The renewed debate on Pakistan not taking sides stemmed from the recent Democracy Summit convened by US President Joe Biden. Over 100 countries, including Pakistan, were invited to the summit. Pakistan was among the only 4 countries from South Asia to have been invited. Others include India, Maldives and Nepal. Russia and China were excluded from the guest list while Taiwan was invited, something that drew strong reaction from Beijing.

Initially it was thought Pakistan would attend the summit as PM Imran, while congratulating President Biden on his election victory, welcomed his initiative of the summit on democracy. But China and Russia criticised the US and said President Biden’s move would divide the world. Both countries claimed the summit was not meant for democracy but to advance the geostrategic interests of the US. This put Pakistan in a tight situation. A straightforward decision became much more complicated. It took days of consultations for Pakistani policymakers to make the final call, and that too just hours before the summit was to kick off. In a carefully crafted statement, Pakistan politely turned down the US invitation. No specific reason was cited and the Foreign Office remained tightlipped despite the spokesperson’s emphasis on the importance of ties with the US.

Before taking the decision Pakistan consulted China and it is said Beijing was keen in making sure Islamabad stayed away from the US initiative. For China, Taiwan is a redline that it would never allow anyone to cross. Therefore, it was abundantly clear what China wanted from Pakistan and its other allies. If there was any doubt on what might have played a role in Pakistan’s final decision the statement of the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson cleared it. Using his official Twitter handle, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson in a way appreciated Pakistan’s decision. “Pakistan declined to attend the democracy summit. A real iron brother!” Lijian Zhao writes while attaching the Foreign Office statement in which Pakistan announced its decision not to attend the summit on democracy. But the Foreign Office spokesperson at the weekly briefing described as “unfounded” the impression that Pakistan had taken the decision because of China. Asim Iftikhar insisted that Pakistan values its relationship with the US and looks to expand it. But either he had no answer or he did not want to divulge more details when asked if that was the case then what led Pakistan to stay away from the summit.

Officials familiar with the development said Pakistan endorsed Chinese and Russian view that the summit on democracy by the US was more of advancing the geo-strategic interests of Washington. Also there were some concerns over the format of the summit. Except a select few leaders who were to join Biden, others including Pakistan’s PM were simply asked to send a pre-recorded statement. These issues compelled Pakistan not to attend the summit, as per officials. But the ground situation indicates that Pakistan, though did not want to make such choices, had to side with China. This may have repercussions as the US may not take Pakistan’s move to virtually snub its invitation lightly. This was also perhaps a Kuala Lumpur summit moment for Pakistan. At that time Pakistan first committed to attend the summit but had to withdraw at the last moment because of Saudi Arabia. This time it was China that played a role in the final decision of Pakistan on Democracy Summit. Pakistan still wants to maintain a balance between China and the US, but for countries heavily dependent on others for economic assistance seldom have choices!

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2021.

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