The US has usually been the decisive voice of calm, but its influence has waned under TrumpDuring previous bouts of militarised aggression between India and Pakistan, US presidents used personal diplomacy to convince both sides to pull back from the brink. Similarly in December 2008 Condoleezza Rice, then US secretary of state, travelled to India to persuade the government to pull back from a planned severe response after the Mumbai attacks, putting the onus on Pakistan to cooperate transparently. The withdrawal of America as a neutral powerbroker has left China with a degree of diplomatic influence over Pakistan that it could not claim two decades ago. “We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and adopt actions that will help stabilise the situation in the region and improve mutual relations,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said. With an army more than twice as large, backed by superior weaponry and with an economy 8.5 times the size of Pakistan’s, India can strike hard.

Source: The Guardian February 27, 2019 16:59 UTC