Pakistan can serve as a “bridge manufacturer” between China and the United States in the midst of growing world tensions, said the Pakistani peoples party president Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, said during the sideline Munich security conference.
Speaking in an interview with Deutsche Welle, Bilawal highlighted the historic role of Pakistan in promoting the dialogue between Beijing and Washington.
“If you want to put us in a camp, we would like to see ourselves as bridges,” he said, adding that Pakistan aims to fill the gaps rather than deepen the divisions.
Bilawal described former American president Donald Trump as a “relations manufacturer”, suggesting that Pakistan could interact with the United States in key regional challenges under his direction.
He also pointed out that Pakistan is looking for better links with India despite regional rivalries, warning that American support for India as a counterweight to China could fuel a arms race.
Bilawal noted the stable links of Pakistan with China, but stressed that the country had to remain connected to the wider world.
Last year, Pakistan’s Foreign Office reiterated that relations with China and the United States were just as important, rejecting diplomacy in zero sum.
On security, Bilawal has linked Pakistan’s current challenges to the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, which declared autonomized militant groups such as Tehreek-I-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Daesh.
He underlined the past success of Pakistan in the fight against activism and called for a political consensus to solve the problem.
Pakistan had played a central role in establishing diplomatic relations between the United States and China in the early 1970s, acting as a key intermediary.
In 1971, Pakistan facilitated secret communications between the United States and China. President Yahya Khan was then a conduit between US President Richard Nixon and Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai.
Pakistan organized a clandestine visit to the US National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger in Beijing in July 1971. Officially, Kissinger was traveling to Pakistan, but he simulated a disease and was quietly transported to China from Islamabad.
Kissinger’s visit paved the way for President Nixon’s revolutionary trip to China in 1972, marking the start of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The role of Pakistan was crucial because of its friendly ties with the two nations at the time, which earned the country an important good diplomatic will in the United States and China. This triangular diplomacy has also helped Pakistan to strengthen its international position, especially since it has faced regional challenges with India.
