2024-07-27 06:22:17
Islamabad: Pakistan, which is trying to become a leader among Muslim countries over the Gaza war, has suffered a major setback. China held an important meeting on Palestine last year and invited 10 member countries of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) and Russia. However, the Chinese government did not invite ‘Iron Brother’ Pakistan to it. China has taken this step when protests are going on against Israel in Pakistan and the Shahbaz government has declared Netanyahu a ‘terrorist’. Not only this, the Pakistani government has sent a large amount of relief material to the people of Gaza even after poverty and has tried to show that it stands with the Muslim people. Even after this insult by China, Shahbaz Sharif did not mend his ways and he even praised the Jinping government.
There is anger towards China in the Pakistani media regarding this. Pakistani analysts say that Islamabad has always taken a clear and principled stand on the Palestine issue. Famous Pakistani journalist Anas Malik says that it is beyond reality for China to ignore Pakistan. That too when Pakistan is a very influential country in the OIC. He said that perhaps the time has come for Pakistan to review its influence within the OIC. Even after this insult to Pakistan, Shahbaz Sharif did not mend his ways and he praised the Beijing Declaration of the formation of an interim government by the Palestinian groups.
Why is there tension in the relationship between Pakistan and China?
Shahbaz Sharif also praised China for this ‘diplomatic success’ and reiterated Pakistan’s support to Palestine. Middle East affairs analyst FJ says that there are many reasons behind China not inviting Pakistan. He said that Pakistan’s foreign policy suffered a serious setback during Imran Khan’s tenure. During Imran Khan’s time, Pakistan’s relations with Saudi Arabia had gone into the abyss, which have not yet been fully recovered. After this incident, Pakistan’s influence in the OIC also decreased significantly.
FJ also said that relations with China also suffered a major setback during Imran Khan’s time. He said that on the surface, there seemed to be a very close friendship between China and Pakistan, but in reality the relationship between the two remained quite uneasy. There were many reasons for this, including attacks on Chinese citizens in Pakistan and the Chinese debt trap. Apart from this, Pakistan’s strategic importance has also decreased since the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. At the same time, China, Iran and India themselves have started strengthening relations with the Taliban. Due to this, Pakistan is now isolated.