Is Pakistan aligned with Beijing or Washington?

Quite recently when Pakistan cherished the principle of 'no-camp' politics, it was one way or the other aligned with Beijing. Strong undercurrents of geopolitics made it tilt towards China, and extend its reach to Russia, too. This was all owing to geo-economics. The thrust was made clear in no unequivocal terms by the Army Chief and the then Prime Minister at Islamabad Security Dialogue consecutively in 2021 and 2022. One more factor that motivated Pakistan to adopt a regional approach was the exit of the United States from Afghanistan, and that too in a quick fix. Having played the role of a great guarantor in ensuring that American interests are not harmed, as they were evacuated out of Kabul, Islamabad had strategically made its indispensable position loud and clear.

Yet misgivings with Washington reigned on. The root cause of discord was the 'absolutely not' dictum pronounced by Mr Imran Khan on the demand for bases and airspace to the lone superpower. President Biden's administration was playing the role of an injured wolf, and was eager to stage a comeback in the mountainous terrain of Southwest Asia. But their plans were torpedoed by several Central Asian states under Russian influence, and even by Kazakhstan. The UAE and Saudi Arabia too stood alienated, and were not on talking terms with Biden. Islamabad's 'no' was more than enough to breed bad blood. And if diplomatic chronicle is any criterion, the distrust in the previous government from White House was too candid to make the difference felt. And the change of command was fait accompli.

So where does Pakistan stand today? Is it with China or the US? The new political polity is in a fix to state the obvious. It is in a swirling mode between two poles of power. One of its prime concerns is to seek economic legitimacy from international donors who are all based in Washington, and hold the immediate succour. On the other hand, it is Beijing which is one of the biggest game-changers in Pakistan with more than $60 billion investment in the pipeline under the CPEC initiative. Not to mention the new out-of-the-box solution that the previous government had cultivated with Russia to seek cheap...