WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari urged China and the United States to keep aside their rifts and join hands for improving global climate.
Bilawal stated this a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked Pakistan to approach China for restructuring its debt.
Earlier, in a joint media briefing, Secretary Blinken said: “We talked about the importance of managing a responsible relationship with India, and I also urged our colleagues [Pakistan] to engage China on some of the important issues of debt relief and restructure so that Pakistan can more quickly recover from the floods.”
Moreover, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded to the issue and said Beijing was already providing assistance for the flood victims and would also rebuild thousands of homes in the affected areas.
China urged other nations to do “something real and beneficial, instead of passing unwarranted criticism against China-Pakistan cooperation.”
The Chinese government provided RMB 400 million worth of humanitarian assistance to Pakistan while China’s civil society is also “lending a hand,” he said.
After devastating floods, Pakistan has discussed the possibility of restructuring its debt with creditors. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also supported it saying it “an effective mechanism of debt relief” and is believed to have brought it up during the first bilateral meeting between FM Bhutto-Zardari and Secretary Blinken.
The United States is the largest donor to the flood relief and rehabilitation funds, providing about $56 million since July. Washington announced an additional $10 million for food security after the bilateral meeting.
The Pakistani foreign minister, nonetheless, requested China and the United States to cooperate, not fight, with each other over this issue.
“We will not overcome climate change. We will not save our planet. If China and the US do not work together on climate,” said Mr Bhutto-Zardari in his address at a Washington think-tank, Woodrow Wilson Centre.
