At the end of September 2025, the sunshine of Washington is set in front of the White House: Pakistani Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif walks out of the White House with a light, smiling face, where he spoke with Trump for 80 minutes.
On the spot, he called Trump a "guardian of peace" on social media, and the scene looked closer than a "hardcore ally". That's not over. Within a few days, Shahbaz threw out another sentence at the UN General Assembly, "Our Air Force shot down seven Indian fighter planes", which instantly detonated the Indian public opinion field.
Just when the Indian media crowd reacted, Pakistan turned its head to China to send a "concentration bullet", saying that "China is a strategic partner", one after another, a soft one hard, Pakistan's set of operations, play is not geopolitical high-level balancing?
80 minutes at the White House
The most striking thing about Shabaz’s trip to the U.S. was not what suit he was wearing, but what specific reception he got, 80 minutes of closed-door talks, and the pictures in front of the White House laughed more sweetly than the wedding.
This is a sharp contrast to the American cold-treatment of Pakistan in recent years, remembering how the previous administration described Pakistan as a “unreliable” “terrorist group hub” – but now an “important partner for peaceful cooperation” – is inevitably curious: who has changed?
The calculation behind this is actually not complicated. The first is to "beat" India with Pakistan. India has an ambiguous attitude in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and is unwilling to keep pace with the United States. In addition, it frequently demonstrates "strategic autonomy" on multilateral occasions.
Washington began to feel that the “Indo-Pacific ally” was somewhat disobedient, so Trump gave a warm embrace to Khabaz with a clear purpose: remind Modi not to regard yourself as an “irreplaceable player.”
Second, the U.S. is also under China, Pakistan is China's ironest brother, and the Trump administration suddenly showed favour to Pakistan, as if it wanted to put a foot in between China and Pakistan.
Even if it can't be opened, it's necessary to create some "noise". This is not to make Pakistan completely fall to the United States, but to try to play a "alienation strategy" to make China less strategically determined in South Asia.
The most dramatic thing is the "air battle" Rashomon. Shahbaz said firmly at the UN General Assembly: "We shot down seven Indian fighter planes." Although the Indian side immediately denied it, Trump pushed the boat with the current, claiming to have "played an important mediating role" in the India-Pakistan conflict.
This wave of operation, on the one hand, is to help Shabaz "build the momentum", on the other hand is also for themselves a wave of "peace makers" image, Shabaz even succumbed to praise Trump "deserves to receive the Nobel Peace Prize", this diplomatic show, who is the director, who is the actor, who is the audience, at a glance.
“Do not dare to be negligent.”
Just when the outside world speculated on whether Pakistan would "turn" to the United States, the Pakistani side immediately responded with action, and Pakistani Planning Minister Iqbal directly gave a "grade" statement in Beijing.
“The European Union is an important partner, the United States is an important partner, but China is a strategic partner,” the statement said without turning and without ambiguity, illuminating Pakistan’s political stance.
Behind this, there is a clear balance of real interests, first of all, the issue of economic vitality, the China-Pakistan economic corridor is the flagship project of the "Belt and Road", for Pakistan, not only an investment, but also a development line of life.
Ports, roads, and electricity are all real money and resources, in other words, China invests “the real money” and most of what the United States gives is “promise”.
Second, security considerations, China in defense cooperation has always been Pakistan's most stable support, unlike the United States, today you "human rights", tomorrow you military aid, China's support is less discounted, more realistic, in times of border tension, Beijing's attitude is often more reassuring for Pakistan.
More importantly, it is a "believable" historical feeling, from the middle of the last century to the present day, China-Pakistan relations have experienced too many storms, no matter who is in power, Pakistan has never really been diplomatically "backs" over China, this long accumulated strategic mutual trust, not a few talks can be replaced.
Therefore, Pakistan does not have a “choice side” but a “balance,” it smiles at Washington, to fight for more international space; but it is firm in Beijing, to keep the strategic bottom line.
From this perspective, Pakistan is not so much swinging as it is looking for the most advantageous position to stand firmly between the two giants.
"Shouting negotiations" with India
After getting Trump's "diplomatic ticket", Shahbaz's next move was particularly gunpowder. He made a high-profile message to India at the UN General Assembly, saying that "we are ready to start a substantive dialogue on all issues left over from history". This sentence is not just a casual remark, it is equivalent to kicking the ball to Modi: Do you want to talk about it or not?
Pakistan dares to say this because it feels that it is “tough”, on the one hand, the support of the United States, whether it is real or tactical, at least at the moment it seems that the Trump administration has indeed given the face.
On the other hand, it is the statement of the "downfall of seven warplanes" that sparked a wave in the domestic public opinion, even if India does not admit that the spread of this "accomplishment" itself has shaped an atmosphere of "we have won" in Pakistan.
On Modi's side, it's indeed a bit difficult. Once he accepts the negotiations, he is tantamount to acquiescing in Pakistan's "results statement". However, if he refuses, it seems that Modi's government is unwilling to ease the tension, which may be questioned by the international community as "irrational".
Worse yet, the situation is also being watched in India, where the media must resolutely disprove Shabaz’s remarks in order to safeguard the military’s reputation and national image, and if Modi chooses to compromise it could trigger a fierce attack from political opponents.
There’s a bigger puzzle: America’s attitude is shaking, and the US-India relationship has been going very close in the past few years, but this time Trump’s “patriotic gesture” has embarrassed New Delhi.
If Modi pretends not to see it, it is defaulted to be "cooled down"; if too concerned, it is easy to see it as a "low voice" against the United States, this two-headed difficult situation, so that India must be very careful to deal with.
And from a regional security perspective, Pakistan’s “forced-talk” strategy could also bring a new round of escalation, and if India sees the behavior of Khabaz as a “American-backed” provocation, the risk of border friction and even military conflict will rise quietly, after all, South Asia hasn’t been a history of wiping out fire because of the word “fire medicine.”
Shabaz's "smile diplomacy" was a small country game at the level of textbooks, in the White House, he replaced the strategic code with a smile; in Beijing, he consolidated the foundations with statements; in the United Nations, he seized the regional initiative with hard words, every step is not wasted, every word is clearly calculated.
For China, Pakistan's "clearness" once again confirms the depth and stability of China-Pakistan relations. For the United States, even if a new window is opened in a short time, it is still far from being able to truly shake the hardcore relationship between China and Pakistan.
As for India, which is facing the triple test of diplomacy, military and public opinion, Modi's next step will change, and the temperatures in South Asia will change.
This diplomatic performance, which began at the White House gate, behind the cold ice national interest calculation, Pakistan took a good step, but the chess scene is far from over, and the next scene of the Sino-American-Indo-Pakistan relations in the Quartet is destined to not be calm.
Source of information:
Pakistan Prime Minister: India arrogantly came, but was struck by us and ready to meet with the Indian side 2025-09-27 23:40· Beijing Youth News