A Chinese think tank official has told the United States (US) to stop disparaging relations between China and Pakistan after it urged Islamabad to renegotiate debt with Beijing.
China’s Foreign Policy Expert, Yun Sun, addressed a two-day conference on US-Pakistan ties and said that the US is a dominant determinant in China’s strategic interests in South Asia, Dawn has reported.
Furthermore, she remarked that the bilateral ties between Pakistan and China will continue and will not be affected by changing US-Pakistan relations. However, China is readjusting its foreign policy toward Pakistan, particularly in view of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Moreover, she opined that China encourages the realignment of Pakistan’s external strategy, including with the US. She elaborated that the US-Pakistan relations will not influence China’s geopolitical interests in the region keeping in view the Indian presence and the significance of CPEC.
Responding to a question, she asserted that it is not Washington’s position to advise Pakistan to renegotiate its debt with Beijing. She later pointed towards analyses on the subject, which claim that the US intends to influence Pakistan-China ties. In this regard, she asked the US ‘not to bad-mouth Pakistan-China ties.’
One of the panelists and a delegate of the US Institute of Peace (USIP), Daniel Markey, contended that the US is concerned about Pakistan’s economic growth because it keeps going to IMF and other financial organizations due to this. That is why, it is important that the US questions the debts that burden Pakistan, including those from China, he further argued.