ISLAMABAD, 15 November 2021, (TON): Pakistan may invite the “wrath of the US and its allies” if it completely joins the China camp, according to the country’s policymakers, who shared their assessment with the members of parliament last week in a closed-door briefing on the national security issues.

The lawmakers were informed that Pakistan had to maintain a “balance” in ties with the US and China.

However, Islamabad’s efforts to seek that balance seem to have not worked so far as the parliament was told that the relationship with the US might further deteriorate in the wake of recent developments, particularly the chaotic exit of the US security forces from Afghanistan.

A member of the parliament said “the ties with the US at the moment are at the lowest ebb.”

Pakistan has longstanding ties with China and those close ties in the past helped Islamabad act as a bridge between Washington and Beijing. But at the time China was nowhere close to challenging the US as sole superpower. With China inching closer to matching the US on all fronts, there have been visible signs of what observers see as a new cold war.

Against this backdrop, Pakistan faces a daunting task to maintain a balance in its ties. On one hand, China, which stood by Pakistan in difficult times and has emerged as a major investor but on the other Islamabad has to take into account the US's huge leverage over the international financial and other institutions.