On 1 January 2018, President Trump has tweeted and shown his aggression against Pakistan. Islamabad has rejected Trump’s allegations and said, “the US is no longer Pakistan’s ally”. According to US think tanks, it’s a childish move by President Trump and the US cannot win the war in Afghanistan without Pakistan. Russia and China have shown their full support to Pakistan and appreciated Pakistan’s effort for peace in the region. China and Russia asked the world to acknowledge Pakistan’s outstanding contribution in countering terrorism.
A remarkable geopolitical shift has taken place in this part of the world as the traditional pattern of friends and adversaries is broken. India and Pakistan have been in opposite camps since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. India and Russia have been all-time strategic partners while Pakistan was more mindful of American interests and was a Cold War ally of the United States. China and Pakistan had an all-weather friendship since 1950 but it is only recently that this partnership made major ripples such as the China Pakistan Economic Corridor project. China is investing close to $57 billion under the CPEC project, which speaks volume about the two nation’s friendship. Pakistan is supposed to be the most steadfast and reliable partner in China-led economic order. Foreign office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said that India was openly opposing the CPEC that links China’s Xinjiang with Pakistan’s Gawadar port.
Pakistan-Russia relations have been witnessing an upward-trajectory since 2013. Moscow is willing to enhance bilateral ties. On October 2017, Pakistan and Russia successfully concluded joint military exercise on counter-terrorism operations. In recent years, Pakistani and Russian officials have participated in various multilateral and bilateral forums. Recently, Russia signaled its support for Pakistan’s candidature for the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Pakistan-Russia bilateral relations are warming up in the geopolitical context marked with incidents of cooperation between states against the realist tendencies of competition. In pursuit of security and global goodwill, Moscow appears to be in an evidently knotty competition with the US-led NATO in rebuilding its own power and creating a multipolar world. On the Russian side, there is an understanding that Pakistan is a responsible key player in the region. For Russia, Pakistan is significant in two dimensions. First, it seems as an outlet to the Central Asian Republics and Kremlin would never desire instability in Pakistan. Second, the strategic location of Pakistan means it can connect the Central Asian region with the Middle East and the Indian Ocean, thus Russians goods can access the international market very conveniently through Pakistan. Moscow has expressed its interest in Pakistan’s energy market and agricultural technology. Russia’s close ties with Pakistan and China disturb India.
Indian media is weeping over Pak-Russia relations. And India is continuously trying to sabotage efforts for peace and put the regional security and stability at stake. In the spirit of regionalism, both China and Russia have shown strategic vision in giving the permanent membership of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to Pakistan. Russia acknowledged Pakistan’s effort to maintain strategic stability in South Asia and emphasized that Russia, along with China, was working for a formula that could be deemed acceptable for all. The expansion of Pakistan-Russia-China ties will help in bringing stability and prosperity in the region.
