US-China Great Game in Pakistan?

[Sal12]

 

[Deltadart]

Can we play off one against the other and extract maximum benefits for the nation? We should be friends with anyone who wants to be our friend. Our corrupt bureaucracy and rulers have always sold us short.
Talk about trade and education and other non military stuff with the US. Don't seek a strategic relationship with the US.....we been there, done that before, with disasterous results for the nation.

 

[Hakikat ve Hikmet]

I am pretty sure Pak would play a balancing game for the time being! However, the balance would be set by Pak…

Here are my naive ideas:

Geo-economics vs geo-politics

IK vs complete elimination of the Western assets like Sherifs/Zardaris etc.

CPEC vs Chinese bases inside Pak

Afganistan under Taliban vs repeat of 90s

US commercial access to the CA via Pak vs the complete Chinese hegemony over these regions

Etc.

The ball is in the Pentagon court….

 

[VCheng]

Can we play off one against the other and extract maximum benefits for the nation?

As if other nations will be too stupid to see through that game.

 

[Wood]

As if other nations will be too stupid to see through that game.

Well, US did get played willfully in Afghanistan. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place

 

[Chakar The Great]

Pakistan should aim to benefit from both.

Will Pakistan get it? No one knows. But Pakistan should try though. Both countries offer different perks.

 

[The Eagle]

Not everyone is familiar with Urdu, therefore, always add details or bullet points in English so that every reader can take part into discussion.

 

[FuturePAF]

If Pakistan wants to balance these two competitors, it has to prepare itself economically to be of use. Both countries are forced to look to our region due to their security concerns, and if those are controlled but nothing else is done, They will just move on because their is more profit to be made in more stable areas.

but if we properly train our labor force, reform our regulations and laws in our agricultural sector, acquire access to cheap petrochemical resources (by asking for payment of pipelines in a percentage of the hydrocarbons instead of money), and incentive our industrialists to reinvest in their machinery and labor to prime our industries, foreign investors will come to make a competitive profit.

there are no shortcuts. This is the time, we need to make the tough reforms or we will age out of our competitive window. India will take the bulk of global cheap labor industries for the next 2 decades and then it will move onto Africa for the following 4 decadeS, IMHO, if we don’t move fast and make real structural reforms.

In Afghanistan we have a regime that is neither friendly (per say) nor Hostile to Pakistan, it’s just inward looking. If we build up our economy in a way that we can absorb their younger labor when we run out of own in a few decades, they will become economically integrated into our country in such a way that their potential future hostilities will be blunted, securing our border and a our relationship (Like Germany and Poland)

Also, if we build up our economy, the costs of not resolving the Kashmir dispute will keep growing higher for India (and us) of not achieving regional integration (much like the Eastern European-Western European integration). Foreign investor would push India to resolve this issue if they know Pakistan has the kind of transport infrastructure (that enables the cheapest transport to Europe) and consumption economy that would allow their companies to see a jump in profits in a short period of time. In 30 years it is estimated the Indian population will peak at 1.6 Billion and Pakistan will reach 400 million. 400 million is a huge consumer market if we see steady economic growth.

The global focus coming out of the pandemic will be on economic recovery, not security. The tensions with China will be a drama and both sides will hunker down to economic development. Pakistan will be as relevant as it is prepared to participate in that recovery.

 

[One_Nation]

Can we play off one against the other and extract maximum benefits for the nation? We should be friends with anyone who wants to be our friend. Our corrupt bureaucracy and rulers have always sold us short.
Talk about trade and education and other non military stuff with the US. Don't seek a strategic relationship with the US.....we been there, done that before, with disasterous results for the nation.

Expecting anything good from US is forgetting lessons of previous disastrous results.
They just want to be the boss. They pay and want you to work for them.

 

[PradoTLC]

They pay and want you to work for them.

ie for peanuts...