Pakistan's SOS to US on bilateral ties a coded message to 'all-weather friend' China?

Amid a dip in bilateral ties with the United States, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday warned that China would naturally ‘fill the void’ left by Washington as it never opted to invest in the country.

“We have been telling the Americans: If you go away, somebody has to step in. You're not investing in Pakistan nor engaging with us. How are you helping build this bilateral relationship?” said Qureshi, in an interview with the Japanese newspaper Nikkei, in an interview that appeared in-part as a SOS to the US to look its way again, something China would no-doubt notice.

Answering a question over juggling ties with the US and China, the minister said if Washington just comes up with a transactional relationship, it won't work. “You can't just keep on saying, ‘Afghanistan, Afghanistan, Afghanistan.’ There's a bilateral side to us as well,” he added.

While noting the importance of Afghanistan, the minister said that Islamabad is doing whatever it can to restore peace and stability in the war-torn country, "But the US should stop looking at us through the Afghanistan prism."

'China is investing in Pakistan, the US isn't'

Qureshi emphasised that Pakistan’s priority now includes economic growth and human development but the US was not investing in his country.

"We've told them that Pakistan's thought process has changed. The US administration should come out of its hangover of the past. It's a new, transformed Pakistan, in which our priorities have changed. Our priority is economic growth, human development, economic security, elimination and eradication of terrorism, and reversing extremism," the Pakistan Foreign Minister told Nikkei.

“Is the US not going to invest in Pakistan? Alternatively, if China opts to invest in us, should we just stop them? We need investments, we need technology transfer, but the US is not giving us either. China is giving us that, and more concessions. Of course, China will move in where you don't,” Qureshi added.   

The Minister further noted China was fulfilling their needs through special economic zones and there are no restrictions there. Similarly, we are open to investment from the US, he said.

As the US continues to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, the minister said that Pakistan will remain relevant to the US, even if they leave their neighbouring country. "Our geostrategic location is important. We have 200 million people. We are important in the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation). We are an atomic power. They will need us, down the line. So it's better to remain engaged with Pakistan."