Islamabad, Pakistan – When Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Monday that Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar would travel to Beijing the following day, it reached for familiar language, highlighting the longstanding ties between the two nations.According to the ministry, both sides would hold “in-depth discussions on regional developments, as well as bilateral and global issues of mutual interest”, as the two countries “enjoy an all-weather strategic cooperative partnership”.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listBut Dar’s visit to China comes at a time when Islamabad is trying to calm particularly turbulent weather — not in its relationship with Beijing, but in Pakistan’s neighbourhood.Over the weekend, Islamabad hosted the foreign ministers of Turkiye, Egypt and Saudi Arabia for a quadrilateral meeting aimed at pushing the United States and Iran towards negotiations, a month into a war that has rapidly expanded to multiple theatres across the entire Middle East while leading to soaring energy prices and the mounting risk of a global recession.Dar’s decision to travel to China despite medical advice to rest following a hairline shoulder fracture, sustained after slipping while receiving Egypt’s foreign minister in Islamabad on Sunday, underlines a sense of urgency within Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts.During a March 27 call, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Dar that Beijing appreciated Islamabad’s “untiring efforts to cool down the situation”. That stance was reiterated by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, who s …
