A senior member of Chinese Communist party on a recent visit to Pakistan hit the right nail on the head by saying that political stability is sine qua non for the economic prosperity of Pakistan. In this context it is heartening to note that the recent moot of senior members of the ruling party with the leading opposition leaders established beyond reasonable doubt that they are on the same page on the second phase of CPEC.
The grown and growing ties between Islamabad and Moscow are also a source of concern for Washington۔
It has been a blessing in disguise for Pakistan that Moscow hit it off with Beijing after a very long time of coolness in their mutual relations as it has helped us in a number of ways in framing uniform foreign policy۔ It is certainly easy for a country like us to deal with the communist bloc if
both Moscow and Beijing see eye to eye with each other rather than be antagonistic on international issues۔
One can change one’s friends but not one’s neighbors۔ Both China and Russia are our next door neighbors۔ We would have been spared from many setbacks in our foreign policy had we kept good relations with Moscow too on the same pattern with which we dealt with Beijing from 1947 onwards .
Many political observers believe that we should not have danced to the tune of US in its cold war against communism after the second world war till the dismemberment of the Soviet empire as it caused more harm than good to us.
Needless to add that it was sensible on the part of present Chinese and Russian leadership to come to the conclusion that they can hold candle to Washington only if they put up a united front against it rather than pursuing independent path in their dealngs with the Americans.
