ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday it was “very unfair” of the United States and other Western powers to ask countries like Pakistan to pick a side in their strategic competition with China and force them to “downgrade” their diplomatic ties with the administration in Beijing.

In an interview to a Chinese news channel, Khan made a reference to the emerging Sino-US bipolar rivalry when asked about the international impact of Pakistan’s 70 years of diplomatic relationship with China.

“Pakistan thinks that it is very unfair for the US or other Western powers to force countries like us to take sides,” he said. “Why do we have to take sides? We should have good relationship with everyone.”

The prime minister added that Pakistan would not downgrade its relations with China under any circumstances.

“The relationship between Pakistan and China is very deep,” he maintained. “And it’s not just [between] the governments, it’s a people-to-people relationship.”

Currently, the two countries are partnering on a $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that they hope will provide a framework for regional connectivity and benefit neighboring countries.

“Whenever Pakistan was in trouble politically or internationally, whenever we had conflicts with our neighbors, China always stood with us,” Khan told the Chinese news channel. “So, the people of China have a special place in the hearts of people of Pakistan.”

He added that Pakistan’s economic trajectory was determined by CPEC, adding that the political relation between the two countries was also getting stronger due to their ongoing collaboration on multiple levels.

The prime minister made similar statements about the diplomatic bond between the two countries in another interview with Axios on HBO last Sunday.

Asked about the “overwhelming evidence” that China was targeting Muslims in the Xinjiang region, Khan said: “Whatever issues we have with the Chinese, we speak to them behind closed doors. China has been one of the greatest friends to us in our most difficult times. When we were really struggling, our economy was struggling, China came to our rescue.”

Pakistan’s national security adviser Moeed Yusuf also told a local news channel this week that his country would only face a difficult situation if it did not abide by its principle of neutrality in the context of great power rivalry in the region.

Yusuf reiterated that any nation could reap the benefit of CEPC, adding that no one was preventing the European Union or the United States to invest in these projects in Pakistan.