Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday criticized the emerging Cold War mentality and said his country does not want to be part of any political bloc but instead play a role in bridging the gap between the US and China. wants. Addressing the Islamabad Conclave 2021 on ‘Peaceful and Prosperous South Asia’, Khan spoke about the threat of a new Cold War between China and the US and his vision of peace in the region.
“The situation is leading to a (new) cold war and factions are being formed. Pakistan should try its best to stop the formation of these groups as we should not be part of any faction.”
Khan said the world and Pakistan have suffered from rivalry between superpowers in the past and were against any new confrontation. He said Pakistan would try to de-escalate tensions between arch-rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran and “both countries have appreciated that we have tried our best at a very critical time when a conflict could have taken place between them.”
Khan said Pakistan enjoys good relations with China and the US and wants to play a similar role in the current tension in US-China relations to check the growing distance between the two countries. It is noteworthy that the relationship between the US and China is going through its worst phase ever. There are conflicts between the two countries over trade, China’s aggressive military activities in the disputed South China Sea, and human rights abuses in Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang region.
Khan’s remarks came amid Pakistan’s stay away from the democracy conference organized by US President Joe Biden. Biden has invited about 110 countries to the conference organized through the digital medium on 9-10 December. Pakistan’s friendly country China has not been invited to attend the conference.
Khan also spoke about relations with India, reiterating that Kashmir is the biggest issue that has held peace in South Asia hostage. He stressed that Pakistan tried to approach India to restore peace but there was no positive response.
He said that after the Kashmir dispute is resolved, other issues including pollution can also be jointly resolved. “Unless both the countries sit together and talk, no matter how much we try in Lahore to control the smog, we will only be able to solve half of the problem,” he said.
