Overview

• Chinese analysts from CICIR and the Huaxia Centre assert Pakistan will not sacrifice its longstanding China alliance for closer U.S. ties
• Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, military spokesman, publicly dismissed speculation of Field Marshal Asim Munir’s presidential ambitions as “nonsense”
• Field Marshal Munir is set to attend U.S. Central Command’s change of command ceremony later this week, his second visit to Washington in under two months
• During his June Washington trip, Munir secured an oil cooperation deal with President Trump as part of expanded defense and energy engagement
• Experts describe U.S. overtures as fleeting geopolitical noise unlikely to shift Pakistan’s security and infrastructure dependence on China