00:00Pakistan's President, Asif Ali Zadari, is on a state visit to China, marking 75 years of diplomatic ties between the
00:08two nations.
00:09I've been speaking to Senator and former caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan, Anwar al-Haq Kakar, about that visit.
00:17I began, though, by asking him about Islamabad's mediation efforts between Iran and the United States.
00:23If someone is expecting that there would be a summit conference in Islamabad where two parties would come and would
00:33just sign an agreement and all global euphemism is linked to that, I think it's a bit naive.
00:44This will, in my opinion, be a long-haul process.
00:49It's not an event.
00:51So the round, so-called round one, was the beginning of this process.
00:56And the important part is that Pakistan has assumed the role of mediation.
01:01And it's a very important, profound, and a serious one.
01:07And it is trying to keep its commitment to fulfill the expectations, not just of these two warring sections of
01:18parties or countries,
01:19but the region in large and the global community, to be honest.
01:27China is looking towards Pakistan.
01:30And how does it play the role?
01:32The European Union is looking towards Pakistan.
01:35Russians are eyeing on Pakistan.
01:37GCC definitely is looking at how Pakistan handles and emerges by concluding this process.
01:48I want to ask you about China and Pakistan.
01:5075 years of diplomatic relations this year.
01:54How important is the visit of the Pakistan president, Zadari, to China, particularly at this time?
02:01Well, when it comes to China, we have always been identifying one another as an ironclad strong relationship
02:12and strategic friendship, which is above the heights of Himalayas and more deeper than the deepest oceans.
02:23All these metaphors have been used for Pakistan-China relationship.
02:29And one of the reasons is that when it comes to China and Pakistan's policy towards it, it's a constant.
02:38There is no variation.
02:40How important is Pakistan-China cooperation for regional stability?
02:46Well, it's extremely important.
02:50Why I'm saying or I'm emphasizing on the extreme part is Pakistan is emerging as a confident partner,
02:59a dignified partner which shares values, which shares a vision of the region
03:07and which has a long-term view of the whole region on strategic matters, on economic matters,
03:17as a rule-based global order, where a country, either small or big, has the same sort of rights,
03:30where the principles and international law would translate the behavior of all the nation-states.
03:39That's a former caretaker, prime minister of Pakistan, Anwar ul-Haq Kaka, speaking to me.
Comments