How Pakistan moves away from the Gulf States in favor of China and Turkey
How Pakistan is reorienting itself in foreign policy. Giuseppe Gagliano's analysis
While Qatar is reconnecting with Saudi Arabia and partly with the Arab Emirates, Pakistan, on the contrary, is adopting an attitude of gradual distancing from the petromonarchies.
Let's try to identify the main causes of this change or reorientation in foreign policy choices.
FIRST CAUSE
When Saudi Arabia pressured Pakistan last August to prepay a $ 3 billion soft loan, Riyadh's request took Islamabad by surprise. Not only that: Riyadh has also frozen a $ 3.2 billion oil credit line with Islamabad. The reason for this attitude must certainly be identified in the unflattering judgments given by the Pakistani Foreign Minister towards the diplomatic stalemate that Saudi Arabia has implemented towards Pakistan during the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization. of Islamic Cooperation ( OIC ) on Kashmir.
This apparently occasional incident actually reveals how relations between South Asia and the Middle East are in rapid change, a change that takes the form of the Gulf states moving away from Pakistan to instead privilege commercial and economic relations with the 'India.
This new dynamic in international relations is leading Pakistan to get closer and closer to China which, not surprisingly, has provided the necessary funds to repay part of the Saudi loan by putting in place a strategy that is now widely used, namely that of the debt trap.
SECOND CAUSE
Another equally significant example of this progressive removal by the Gulf petromonarchies is represented by the fact that the UAE has banned the issuing of work visas for Pakistani workers, a ban that was formally imposed for the pandemic but which coincidentally does not concern India where there are a higher number of infections. What was the cause of this ban? According to analysts, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has been subject to considerable political pressure from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel.
THIRD CAUSE
Another cause of this reorientation of Pakistani foreign policy is to be found in the progressive rapprochement by the Pakistani premier with Turkey.
During Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to Turkey in January 2019, the Pakistani political leader paid a visit to Ataturk's tomb and laid a wreath underlining the political greatness of Kemal Ataturk. Beyond this significant episode certainly on the symbolic profile, Pakistan's rapprochement with Turkey is reflected above all in the recent choices made by Pakistan in foreign policy, as clearly evidenced by the political and economic will to relaunch in 2021 the dormant transnational railway service that connects Istanbul, Tehran and Islamabad. Indeed, the transnational railway is expected to improve connectivity through China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by providing a direct rail link between China and Turkey via Iran. The presence of China in the relaunch of the line is of fundamental importance.
Meanwhile, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which aims to turn Pakistan into a transit route for China to reach Europe via Iran and Turkey, is another project that brings Pakistan closer to China and distances it. from India.
With China and the European Union having recently entered into an economic partnership, the CPEC has taken on new importance in linking the east-west trade route. Precisely for this reason it is logical from a political point of view that Islamabad should develop strong ties with other key states to make this connection, namely with Iran and Turkey. Not surprisingly, in December, Pakistan opened a new border crossing with Iran to facilitate bilateral trade.
Furthermore, India's growing tensions with Iran have led the latter to hypothesize the possibility of directly connecting the port of Gwadar in Pakistan, developed by China, with the port of Chabahar in Iran, which previously managed only India. . In fact, geographically, the new Pakistan-Iran border crossing is only 130 kilometers from Chabahar.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/come-il-pakistan-si-allontana-dagli-stati-del-golfo-in-favore-di-cina-e-turchia/ on Sat, 09 Jan 2021 06:40:12 +0000.