The documents, published by The Washington Post, include two Pakistani memos that warn policymakers in Islamabad not to annoy China to maintain links with the US.
Two Pakistani memos
In one of the memos, minister of state for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani Khar argues that Pakistan can “no longer try to maintain a middle ground between China and the US”. The internal memo — titled ‘Pakistan’s Difficult Choices’ — was sent to official recipients in March, according to a report by Dawn.
The memo cautions Islamabad should avoid giving the appearance of appeasing the West. It warns that the instinct to preserve Pakistan’s partnership with the US would ultimately sacrifice the full benefits of the country’s “real strategic” partnership with China.
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Leaked memos featuring PM Shehbaz Sharif and Khar show Islamabad is distancing itself from US positions on Beijing and Moscow
As per the report by Dawn, the second memo is dated February 17 and details PM Sharif’s deliberations on an upcoming UN vote on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It also anticipated renewed Western pressure to back the UN resolution condemning Russia’s invasion.
Pakistan is among 32 countries that have abstained from voting every time a US-backed resolution on the Ukrainian conflict was raised in the UN.
In the memo, an aide of PM Sharif advises that supporting any resolution would signal a shift in Pakistan’s position and jeopardise Islamabad’s ability to negotiate trade and energy deals with Russia.
Tightrope act
The Washington Post report said the leaked documents show how major developing nations seek to “evade the intensifying standoff between the US, Russia and China and, in some cases, exploit that rivalry for their own gain”.
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The documents provide a rare glimpse into how key emerging powers are balancing their relations between the US and Russia and China.
Experts in global politics said most of the developing countries are unsure who will come out on top in the rivalry between US, Russia and China, and are therefore hedging their bets.
Challenges for Biden
America is no longer the world’s unchallenged superpower and as a result President Joe Biden’s global agenda faces significant challenges as major developing nations look out for their interests instead of being cowed down by diplomatic or other pressures.
The Biden administration has told these countries that it is not asking them to pick sides between the US on one hand and China and Russia on the other, a message that secretary of state Antony Blinken has stressed in his travels.
But several nations have hit out at the US for trying to bully them into making decisions that don’t suit them.
Unlike the nonaligned movement that flourished during the Cold War, there is little in the way of common ideology today and no explicit allegiance between countries seeking to navigate this great power rivalry.