India - China: Relations And Developments-2

[acharya]

US must respect Pakistan’s strategic interests: Burns

* US, India believe China cannot be contained, should be engaged

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: One of former US president George W Bush’s top aides on Tuesday urged the US to respect Pakistan’s strategic interests.

Addressing an interactive meeting in India, former US undersecretary of state and architect of the Indo-US nuclear deal, Nicholas Burns, said his country needed to unite with Pakistan to combat extremist groups. Blaming past Pakistani governments for the worsening situation in the region, he said: “US-Pakistan relations are vital to the administration. We have to be friends with Pakistan so we can combat extremist groups. Past governments have been responsible for the worsening of the situation there and now we have to convince Pakistan to do more.”

Burns, who is in India to establish an Indian politics programme at the Harvard Kennedy School where he teaches, said the internal security situation of Pakistan should be a cause for concern for everyone. “There is nothing more important to worry about, than the internal security of Pakistan - it is highly unstable,” he added. However, he said the US and Pakistan needed to respect each other’s strategic interests and take into account regional and global perspectives. He said the US-India civil nuclear cooperation agreement had been a watershed, historically and symbolically, for the two nations. He said it marked the US’ recognition of India’s rise as a global power and “we hope to see the full implementation of the agreement, which could lead to cooperation in other areas”.

Engage, not contain: Burns revealed that America’s focus has shifted to South Asia and the Middle East because of the myriad challenges in these regions. Alluding to China as a rising global power, he said there was consensus in the US and India that it was not possible to contain China, but it was possible to engage with it. He said China should demonstrate greater responsibility and be willing to compromise for the global good.

On the US and India’s relations with Pakistan, Burns said both countries were great nations. However, he added, the US felt it was imperative to have “independent” relations with Islamabad and New Delhi even as it sought to improve bilateral relations between them.