Naveed Ahmad Khan
ISLAMABAD: A national conference titled “Ongoing Sino-US Contestation and Future Trajectory of US-Pak Relations” was organised under the banner of Islamabad Institute of Conflict Resolution (IICR), an Islamabad based think tank. The panelists included Mushahid Hussain Syed, Senator PML(N); Prof. Dr Rifaat Hussain, Head Department of Government Policy and Public Administration at Pakistan’s National University of Sciences and Technology; Ambassador (Retd) Syed Hasan Javed, Director, Chinese Studies Centre at the NUST School of Social Sciences & Humanities; Faheem Sardar, Senior Policy Specialist, SPPC, NSD Pakistan; Qamar Cheema, a faculty member at the Department of International Relations in the National University of Modern Languages Islamabad. Ms. Sabah Aslam, Executive Director IICR gave her opening remarks and welcomed guests and panelists whereas Senator Hussain moderated the working session. In his opening address, Mushahid Hussain, Senator PML (N), remarked that current trends indicate that China has the strength, skill, and ambition to exceed the United States in Artificial Intelligence within the next ten years. While citing Ash Center report on China published in July 2020, he said that 85 per cent of Chinese respondents were satisfied with the system in place in China under the communist party of China (CPC). While discussing the dichotomy between the global political behaviour of both Washington and Beijing, he remarked that US foreign policy has been indulged in waging war on terror whereas on the other hand, China avoided walking on the same path and steered its foreign policy towards economic excellence and mutual development. He further said that there is a need to develop a broad-based relationship with China. “Pakistan must develop strategic clarity first and then draw clear red lines. The relation must be based on equality, reciprocity and protection of core interests,” said Mushahid Hussain While speaking to the fora Faheem Sardar, Senior Policy Specialist, SPPC, NSD Pakistan, emphasized that conflicts and economics are twin brothers and all wars have an economic aspect attached to them. He said that “a conflict is destined to emerge when it is economically feasible, and this applies to inter-state conflicts as well,” highlighting the role of economics in creating the geopolitical scenario, Mr. Sardar said that wars meet their end when they are no longer feasible. Adding further he said that Pakistan and the United States have never had a direct conflict and their relationship has always been tactical rather than strategic. While recommending, Sardar said that although conflicts are inevitable and they have a direct linkage with economic interdependence, a balance must be drawn so that the threshold or the red line is not crossed. Pakistan as a rising nation needs clarity, whether we want economic interdependence or something else. “Economics and trade remain the best relationship builder and softener. Economics creates a pathway for traction, growth and mutual benefit. Pakistan can exist with trade and conflict with countries, China and India are at each other throats over certain borders but a few 100 kilometres they are trading in billions.” Faheem Sardar added. The next speaker on the panel was Ambassador (Retd) Syed Hasan Javed, while speaking at the conference said that there is no brawl because the contest has already been decided and China is the victim of that contest. Commenting on the US dilemma, he said that it is no more debatable that US is in a deep trouble nowadays. “The 20th Century was American century but now they have lost the credibility and battle of ideas because of its few major blunders,” said Amb. Javed