MUNICH: Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that Pakistan can play a role in bridging the gap between the US and China amid rising global tensions.
Giving an interview to Deutsche Welle during the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Bilawal Bhutto highlighted Pakistan’s historic role in the start of talks between Beijing and Washington and said that if you want to make us part of a camp, we would like to see ourselves as a conciliator and mediator. He said that Pakistan wants to bridge the gap instead of widening the divide.
Bilawal described US President Donald Trump as a ‘deal maker’ and said that under his leadership, Pakistan can deal with key regional challenges.
He also stressed that despite being a regional rival, Pakistan wants better relations with India, but at the same time he warned that US support for India as a rival to China could lead to an arms race.
The PPP chairman, while mentioning Pakistan’s strong relations with China, stressed that Pakistan should also maintain relations with other countries of the world.
Last year, the Pakistani Foreign Office had rejected the policy of ‘one party’s gain at the expense of the other’ and reiterated that relations with China and the US are of equal importance.
Speaking on security, Bilawal Bhutto attributed Pakistan’s current challenges to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying that it had given strength to groups like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and ISIS.
Bilawal Bhutto, while mentioning the past successes against aggression, stressed the need for political consensus to resolve the issue.
Pakistan played a key role in establishing diplomatic relations between the US and China in the early 1970s, playing the role of a key mediator.
In 1971, Pakistan facilitated secret communication between the US and China. Later, President Yahya Khan acted as a messenger between US President Richard Nixon and Chinese ruler Chun En-lai.
Pakistan arranged for a secret visit to Beijing by US National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger in July 1971. Henry Kissinger was officially on a visit to Pakistan, but he quietly flew from Islamabad to China on the pretext of illness.
Henry Kissinger’s visit made possible US President Nixon’s very important visit to China in 1972, which officially established diplomatic relations between the two countries.
