Knowing that Pakistan badly needs international help to cope with climate change-related devastation, some are offering help while at the same time trying to influence the country’s foreign policy. The main target remains CPEC and Pakistan-China relations. On the eve of the Pakistan delegation’s arrival in the USA, a write-up in The Financial Times reported UNDP’s proposal for Pakistan to negotiate debt relief with creditors to stem the climate-change-fuelled crisis. The paper noted that China was one of Pakistan’s largest creditors with Islamabad owing more than $30 billion accumulated through Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. The Financial Times had in September 2018 also quoted “Pakistani ministers and advisers”, including Razzak Dawood as saying the country’s new government will review CPEC investments and renegotiate a trade agreement that “unfairly benefits Chinese companies”. The Pakistan governmentt however made no such move, which was a wise decision.
On Monday, US State Secretary Antony Blinken called on Pakistan to seek debt relief from China while reiterating Washington’s support to Islamabad in these challenging times. Interviewing Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Foreign Policy’s Ravi Agarwal, claimed that Beijing “hasn’t quite come to Pakistan’s aid in a big way” and even Sri Lanka wasn’t able to get much help from China in the wake of an economic crisis. He asked if Pakistan was holding debt swap talks with China.
Many would agree with Mr Bhutto Zardarfi that when the country is drowning in floods, it cannot play any part in exacerbating tensions or being a “geopolitical football.” It should rather play the role of a bridge and try to bring together China and the USA even if it appears to be an insurmountable task. The Foreign Minister hoped that perhaps Pakistan’s unique position as a friend of both the USA and China could encourage cooperation on this front.
It suits the USA and the European countries to divert attention from their all-out exploitation of the world’s coal, petroleum and gas resources since the Industrial Revolution began, that has led to the rise in global temperatures causing climate change. Industrialised countries, including the USA, Canada, Japan and much of western Europe, account for just 12 percent of the global population but are still responsible for 50 percent of all the planet-warming greenhouse gases released from fossil fuels and industry over the past 170 years. They primarily need to foot the bill to cover the losses caused by their anti climate policies.
