Pakistan will have close relationship with China regardless of who is in power: PM Imran

Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Thursday that Pakistan's relationship with China is not dependent on who is in power in Islamabad, stressing that the country will always have a very close friendship with the neighbour because bilateral relations and cooperation between the two countries have turned into a "people-to-people partnership". ​

"It doesn’t matter whether Imran Khan is in power or someone else is in power -- Pakistan and China will always have a great relationship,” he said while giving an interview to the Director of Fudan University on Thursday.

Highlighting the significance of Pakistan's relationship with China, Khan said that for seventy years, Pakistan's relationship with Beijing has been consistent.

"Pakistan has at every possible forum stood with China and China, whatever Pakistan needed, has stood with us," he said.

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Drawing a comparison with the US, he said that Washington has been a good friend to Pakistan, but it has not been like China which is an "all-weather friend".

"There have been times when the US has been very friendly but then they think Pakistan is no use for them, and then we get abandoned," he said.

Giving an example of Pakistan's troubled relationship with the US, the premier said that Pakistan became a front-line state against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan which made Pakistan a friend of the US.

"They [US] even helped us and were good to us," he said adding that "the moment Soviets left [Afghanistan], they slapped sanctions on Pakistan."

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Talking about the years after the 9/11 attacks, he said the development made the US our friend again. However, when they "could not win in Afghanistan, we were blamed for it."

Earlier this week, Khan had said that Pakistan had good relationships with both China and the United States and wanted to play the same "instrumental role of the 70s" which had brought the two countries closer.

“We have a good relationship with the U.S. and also an iron-brother relationship with China. We want to play the role of 1970 when Pakistan was instrumental in getting the United States and China together,” he said in an exclusive interview with Liu Xin of CGTN’s The Point.

The prime minister was referring to the historic breakthrough in China-U.S. relations in 1971 which was made possible due to the pivotal role played by Pakistan, which also enjoyed the trust of both countries. “The famous visit of Dr. Henry Kissinger (the U.S. State Secretary) was organized by Pakistan, so we hope to play that [same] role,” he said.

Replying to a question, he said the world cannot afford another cold war between China and the US. “The world should not go through the situation where it is divided into two camps and it does not benefit anyone,” he said. “I hope that this does not escalate into another cold war where we have to choose sides.”

Khan said his priority in Pakistan was the uplift of 220 million people which was also linked with peace and stability.