Leak surfaced last month
This dispute has been going on since the end of last month. Whatever conversation took place between PM Shahbaz and Minister of State for External Affairs Hina Rabbani came in front of the media. This disclosure related to Pakistan has happened under American intelligence leak only. In April, many information related to intelligence was revealed on a gaming platform. This whole matter had troubled the defense agencies a lot.
Hina Rabbani Khar had bluntly told PM Shehbaz that now there can be no attempt to maintain a common ground between China and America. Khar’s argument was that Pakistan needs to avoid a false sense of appeasement of the West. Also, because of this habit of maintaining Pakistan’s partnership with America, the strategic partnership with China may suffer.
Pakistan will be closer to China
China has invested billions of rupees in Pakistan under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). But since last year, Shahbaz Sharif’s government is also engaged in efforts to improve relations with America. According to a Pakistani government official, Pakistan is deliberately thinking of moving closer to China. The leak came to light just a few days before Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s visit to Pakistan last week.
During his visit, Qin said, ‘China is ready to provide all necessary help to revive Pakistan’s economy and improve its economy.’ At the same time, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said, ‘China can always count on Pakistan as its most reliable partner and reliable friend. Friendship with China is the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy. It is not yet clear how Khar’s memo reached the US.
Pakistan disappointed with America
According to Musharraf Zaidi, CEO of Islamabad-based think tank Tabadalab, all the leaks are strategic and have been done to achieve larger objectives. On the other hand, Adam Weinstein, a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, says that Pakistan’s diplomats and military officials are at loggerheads when it comes to balancing relations with the US and China.
The country’s diplomats often feel negatively about relations with the US. According to an American diplomat based in Islamabad, many people believe that the US has influence on the decisions of the IMF, whereas it is not so. At the same time, a Pakistani government official said that Pakistan was hopeful that the US would persuade the IMF to sign the agreement. But Pakistan has got only disappointment.