Pakistan’s diplomacy has taken a visible hit, with fewer engagements with countries that matter.
Look at China, for instance; there has been the usual exchange but nothing out of the ordinary. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has been there once since taking charge last year.
The Chinese Prime Minister visited Pakistan, a first in 11 years, but that too was clubbed with Islamabad’s hosting of the SCO Heads of Governments meeting.

Not to forget the ongoing onslaught by Baloch rebels against the China-Pakistan economic corridor and Beijing’s constant insistence on providing security.
And onto the other side of the sphere, with the US, there has barely been any significant movement.

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Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi was recently in the United States and held meetings courtesy of a lobbyist, but that did not go well as the lobbyist made him attend an event that was sponsored by an Anti-CCP firm, which drew a lot of criticism to the point that the Pakistani Foreign Office had to come out clear on the One China principle. Besides, what embarrassed Naqvi even more was the fact that the senators he met ended up tweeting “Free Imran Khan”.

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The Pakistani Foreign Minister is yet to speak to the new administration in the US; in fact, the new administration is yet to even acknowledge something called the elected Pakistani government.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar spoke to his former US counterpart twice in a year, and he has written a letter to the new Secretary of State Marc Rubio, which is yet to be responded to. The Prime Minister’s customary felicitation to the US president is also in vain visibly, and in the absence of a phone call – things have not been well to politely put it.

Amidst this, Pakistan’s experienced father and son duo, though they are not formally part of the government, has essentially taken upon them to get Pakistan on the diplomacy front.

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President Asif Ali Zardari is en route to China on a five-day state visit, and his agenda, as per Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reads, “discussions will encompass the full spectrum of Pakistan-China relations, with a particular focus on economic and trade cooperation; counter-terrorism and security collaboration; China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and future connectivity initiatives”.

Why is this important? – You see the PPP has a history with the Chinese side, be that facilitating the Kissinger visits to China back in the 1970s to piloting the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor during the PPP rule in Pakistan from 2008 to 2013. The trust that the Chinese side has in the Pakistan People’s Party, commonly known as the PPP, is quite telling. The ruling Chinese Community Party and Pakistan People’s Party have regular working-level exchanges, with both sides hosting each other’s delegations, once a year. Asif Ali Zardari, during his first stint as Pakistan’s president, visited China at least 7 times in the five-year tenure.

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Meanwhile, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the former Foreign Minister of Pakistan, is currently in the United States, where he will be attending the National Prayer Breakfast with President Trump. 
In his term as the Foreign Minister a little over a year ago, Bilawal was the last foreign minister of Pakistan to have engaged with the US Administration in person. He met the then US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, during his bilateral visit to Washington, DC, in September 2022. 

While the father—President Asif Ali Zardari—will be meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping on 5th February in Beijing, hours later, Bilawal, the son, will be sharing the room with US President Donald Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, on 6th February.

As per reports in the Pakistani media, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was initially scheduled to travel to China with his father, President Asif Ali Zardari, but an invite for the Prayer breakfast with President Trump is what seemingly made Bilawal change his plans.

And since the Shehbaz Sharif government took charge, the in-person engagements or even phone call engagements, with the US, have been almost nonexistent.

So, the question is, will the father-son duo be able to revive Islamabad’s diplomacy and make Pakistan relevant for both the US and China?