SANJEEV SHARMA
The US has reacted over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in Lok Sabha that Pakistan and China have come closer due to Prime Minister Narendra Modis policies, The News reported.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price categorically said that Washington would not “endorse” such a statement.
“I’ll leave it to Pakistanis and PRC (People’s Republic of China) to speak to their relationship. I certainly won’t endorse those remarks,” he said during a regular White House press briefing.
Speaking in Lok Sabha on Wednesday on the Motion of Thanks on President’s address during the ongoing Budget Session of Parliament, Rahul Gandhi said the present government’s stand on China and Pakistan worked only to bring the two neighbouring countries together to work against India.
“The single biggest strategic goal of India has been to keep China and Pakistan apart. But what you have done is brought them together. You have committed the single biggest crime you can commit against the people of India. China has a plan.”
The US says it values its relationship with Pakistan, the US State Department reaffirmed on Wednesday, while emphasizing that there was no requirement, as far as Washington was concerned, for other countries to choose between the US and China.
“We’ve made the point all along that it is not a requirement for any country around the world to choose between the United States and China,” Price told reporters when asked if Pakistan and China have become closer because “they feel abandoned” by the US.
(Sanjeev Sharma can be reached at Sanjeev.s@ians.in)
