Pakistan has not lost its value for Washington but will have to reinvent its relevance

Pakistan’s strategic ties with China are the keystone of its foreign policy. But it also wants friendly ties with Washington and has been concerned that the US-China rivalry could restrict its relationship with either country.

The encouraging outcome of the Joe Biden-Xi Jinping meeting on the sidelines of the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco may ease some of Pakistan’s concerns. Washington appears focused on containing China’s military and technological ascent more than its economic rise, which is beneficial to the US and the global economy, and may be open to healthy economic competition with Beijing.

Geopolitics, too, is opening to a wider contest. As the US and China compete to reorder the world according to their respective visions, many countries are aligning with both to maximise their global engagement and optimise their interests, so as to be comfortable with any future international order. BRICS – the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa grouping – is just one example of this ‘multi-vector’ foreign policy.

But Pakistan lacks the strategy and capacity to benefit from the opportunities. Its ties with China and the US evoke conflicting public emotions: a romanticised image of ties with China versus an adverse view of the US.

Yet officials are conscious of the...

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