According to US State Department spokesman Ned Price, “partnerships” may be the “wrong term” to define China’s relationship with Pakistan. “We’ve made the point all along that it is not a must for any country across the world to pick between the US and China,” he said at his briefing on Wednesday. It is our objective to provide countries options when it comes to their relationship with the United States.”
“Pakistan is a strategic partner of the United States,” he said at the same time. We have a strong connection with the government in Islamabad, which we cherish on many levels.”
He made the comments in response to a reporter’s inquiry on if Pakistan felt “abandoned by the US” by choosing to engage closely with China. “We think the partnership with the United States conveys a series of advantages that countries typically would not find when it comes to the sorts of partnerships that – ‘partnerships’ may be the wrong term – the sorts of relationships that the PRC (Peoples Republic of China) has sought to have around the world,” he said, contrasting US relationships with those of the US.
“I’ll leave the relationship between Pakistan and the PRC to the Pakistanis and the PRC.”
That reporter also inquired about Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi’s alleged statement in the Lok Sabha, in which he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government’s “strategic blunders” brought China and Pakistan together. “I certainly would not – would not endorse those sentiments,” Price replied.
