Two days from now, US President Donald Trump will mark his 79th birthday—but global eyes will be fixed on June 14 for reasons that go far beyond the celebrations. A far more calculated and strategic development is quietly taking shape.
Two days before Trump blows out his birthday candles, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Syed Asim Munir, will land in Washington, DC, at the invitation of the United States.
He will participate in the US Army’s 250th anniversary celebrations. While the occasion seems ceremonial on the surface, it carries weighty diplomatic undertones.
Reports claim that the US has India’s interests at heart and is keen to address matters on counterterrorism. Munir will be pressured into cracking down on terrorist groups operating from its soil against India.
The US’s concerns about Pakistan’s growing ties with China are understandably linked to the occasion. The US doesn’t perceive China just a trade rival but a threat in economic, technology, military might, and geopolitical fronts.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has given China direct access to the Arabian Sea and a strategic alternative to the Malacca Strait, in addition to increasing Pakistan’s economic and infrastructure dependence on Beijing.
In 2013, China launched the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a land corridor of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that encompasses more than 140 nations in Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Global powers have taken notice. It tilts the strategic balance in South Asia and enhances China’s ability to project power into the Indian Ocean and its critical maritime chokepoints.
Meanwhile, the invitation has sparked outrage in Pakistan. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the country’s leading opposition force, is expressing disapproval of the military establishment’s increasing engagement with the West.
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