Pakistan's Strategic Calculus ...

[Rig Vedic]

I must say that Pakistan has played this delicate balance of being an ally of both China and USA for quite long.

How long it can be sustained is for time to tell. A lesser player would have given up long back.

True. Here are the long-term trends:

The US and Europe are economically declining. Even if China slows down, it may become the world's largest economy over the next couple of decades. The political philosophy of the western powers is to work towards a unipolar world order. There is a desire to be the world's policeman, which will not be possible once they are no longer the primary economic power. When China gives loans to people like Mugabe of Zimbabwe, western powers resent it.

Thus, tension between the west and China is inevitable, and Pakistan is trying to balance.

 

[RazorMC]

I don't believe that there is any balance at all.
Only our ruling elite and other officials are among the few people in Pakistan who favour the US. A previous statement about Washington having sway in Islamabad is quite true.
But it is China who has unequalled support among the masses and it is only a matter of time before the government finally starts kneeling to overwhelming pressure from the public to maintain good relations with USA but not consider it an ally anymore.

 

[Asian.Century]

Pakistan's strategic national interests should be the basis of her foreign policy, as opposed to traditional alignment and special relations, in the same way that US strategic interests dictate her foreign policy.

He defines Pakistan’s paradigm very specifically and without pulling any punches as:

"Pakistan’s security remains threatened even after a long period of existence because of the single factor i.e. the Kashmir issue which was left unresolved at the time of partition of the subcontinent. Despite large spending on defence and being part of the US-led alliances, Pakistan was dismembered in December 1971. With the end of the Cold War, the situation has gone from bad to worse."