US President seeks friendship with Pakistan PM at Davos

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 January 2020, 22:31 GMT]
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan met US President Donald Trump at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual conference at Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday. Mr Khan was renewing his country’s friendship with the US and assuring Islamabad’s assistance to the US on peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan and was seeking US support to resolve the Kashmir crisis with India. Mr Trump said they were “working together on some borders,” including the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. “[I]f we can help, we certainly will be helping. And we’ve been watching that and following it very, very closely,” Trump said. India has earlier turned down the US offer to negotiate between Pakistan and India on the crisis in Kashmir.

“We’re not close to conflict [with India] right now, but it’s important that the United Nations act, that the US act,” Mr Khan told Jonathan Tepperman of foreignpolicy.com in an interview after his meeting with Mr Trump.

“[M]y worry is that things will get worse in India,” he further said.

The Indian election campaign, which Modi won hands down, was built on jingoism and hatred for Pakistan, he noted.

In a special address to the WEF and in his interviews with media outlets, Mr Khan was defending Pakistan’s trade relations with China.

With regards to the developments in India, he likened the BJP government’s ideology to that of the Nazis.

Pakistan leaders have also refused to draw any parallel between the Chinese-ownership Hambantota port and the Gwadar port in Pakistan.

In the meantime, Chinese Embassy in Pakistan was reacting against the comments made by US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Alice G Wells, who was wrapping up her four-day visit to Pakistan on Wednesday.

Ms Wells was repeating her criticism on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as she did in November 2019, the Chinese statement noted.

Video courtesy: PBS NewsHour:


Video courtesy: DW News:


Ambassador Alice G Wells on CPEC
(Video courtesy: WoodrowWilsonCenter, Nov 2019):


Video courtesy: World Economic Forum:


External Links:

DAWN:		Blacklisted firms got CPEC project contracts, says Wells
Chinese Embassy in Pakistan:		Statement in response to US Views on CPEC
Foreign Policy:		Imran Khan on Trump, Modi, and Why He Won’t Criticize China

Chronology: