Pakistan has recently set the target of reaching $63 billion in exports by 2035. It primarily aims to explore the markets of Southeast Asia and Africa to meet this target. However, to achieve this target, Islamabad needs a complete recalibration of its foreign policy before economically engaging with this region, particularly the countries of Southeast Asia. It is important to mention here that the Asia-Pacific region is the stage where the world’s socio-economic and geopolitical future will be decided. The Asia-Pacific region is home to more than half of the world’s population, with 4.4 billion people, and contributes more than 40-50% of the global economy, estimated at over $53-55 trillion, making it the world’s engine of economic growth, averaging at 5-6% annual economic growth (before Covid disruptions).
The Asia-Pacific region remains marginalized in Pakistan’s economic and foreign policies. There is a recalibration of economic and strategic partnerships and competitions forming in the East, but Pakistan’s contribution is episodic and limited, mainly eclipsed by Pakistan’s relationship with China. It’s not because Pakistan lacks strategic leverage but because the subsequent governments have always looked West rather than East for strategic and economic reliance. This strategic inertia is causing a blind spot in Pakistan’s foreign policy, which makes the country risk missing out on economic and diplomatic gains.
This oversight could be considered benign as Pakistan has had historical, cultural, religious, and socio-economic ties with the Middle East, Europe, U.K and the U.S. The Middle East has provided Pakistan with funding and energy, the U.S. and U.K has provided defense and development, while Europe has provided Pakistan with trade and the GST+ status. Not to forget that mostly all of Pakistan’s diaspora lies in the West and Gulf regions and contributes over $30 billion in remittances. 53% of Pakistan’s diaspora lives in the Gulf as Pakistan shares historical, cultural, and religious ties with the region, while around 30% reside in the U.S. and U.K with whom Pakistan shares linguistic ties and a colonial past.
Furthermore, Pakistan’s foreign policy is reactionary and land-centric as it focuses on India and Afghanistan, as evident from our rich legacy of conflicts with India over Kashmir and instability and insurgency in Afghanistan. During the Cold War and War on Terror, Pakistan sided with the U.S, its allies, and Western institutions to secure security guarantees and military aid, which shifted Pakistan’s focus to defense instead of trade. These institutional and policy gaps are due to a lack of a long-term geo-economic Asia Pacific strategy. For example, there has been noted participation of Pakistan in ASEAN’s summits and ministerial meetings, yet these have only been symbolic and lack any sustained bilateral economic and strategic results.
Pakistan’s land-centric foreign policy has caused maritime strategy and connectivity gaps despite having a 1046 km long coastline perfectly situated close to three of the world’s maritime trade chokepoints, the Strait of Hormuz, the Strait of Malacca, and Bab-el-Mandeb. The Indian Ocean is vital for the global economy, as it carries 80% of the global seaborne oil trade and around 33% of the global bulk cargo. The Asia-Pacific region runs on maritime connectivity and trade, as 9 out of the 10 busiest ports are in East or Southeast Asia, i.e., Shanghai, Singapore, Busan, and Shenzhen, to name a few. Pakistan is underperforming by handling less than 1% of global container traffic and can only handle 3.5-4 million TEUs annually from all its ports, which is less than Sri Lanka’s Colombo port and 10 times less than any mid-tier Southeast Asian port.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development tracks and publishes a Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI), which measures nations and their ports’ integration into the global maritime network, and Pakistan’s score is abysmal and far behind its Asia-Pacific counterparts, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, to name a few. Pakistan’s Q3 2025 LSCI score of 168 is higher than before but significantly behind its peers and competition with Malaysia’s score of 520, Indonesia’s score of 239, and Vietnam’s score of 464. Here we are once again reminded of the importance of the Asia Pacific, as out of the 10 most connected countries, 7 are in Asia.
Another reason for a lack of shortsightedness of Pakistan’s foreign policy towards the East could be our over-reliance and dependency on China, as China dominates Pakistan’s Asia-Pacific engagement. Islamabad’s strategic autonomy to cultivate independent bilateral economic and security relations with Seoul, Tokyo, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Hanoi, to name a few, has been paradoxically limited due to our eclipsed relationship with Beijing.
Decades of geo-strategic choices, prioritizing the West and Gulf, coupled with domestic shortcomings such as economic distress, political instability, and judicial and bureaucratic hurdles has severely restricted Pakistan’s capacity to take a proactive position in the Asia-Pacific region. Pakistan’s foreign policy has always been reactive regionalism, and if it persists, then Pakistan risks ceding influence if it continues to keep the Asia-Pacific region in its periphery. And this absence is noted by foreign powers and the region, as well as most Indo-Pacific and Asia-Pacific frameworks, which include India but exclude Pakistan. Only a few paces east lies a whole new world for Pakistan to engage with economically and diplomatically; all that requires is the willingness of the state.
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The views and opinions expressed in this article/paper are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Paradigm Shift.
M. Umar Bilal Rathore is a journalist and analyst and has completed his bachelor’s degree in International Relations from National Defense University, Islamabad, as well as pursuing his Master’s from the Erasmus Mundus Journalism at City St George University, London. Umar is currently an intern at the Consortium for Asia Pacific and Eurasian Studies.
