The United States (US) has responded to Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in the Indian parliament, Lok Sabha, that the policies adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi have brought Pakistan and China closer.

The US State Department spokesperson Ned Price refused to “endorse” such a statement on Washington’s behalf and said, “Pakistan is our strategic partner.”

“I’ll let Pakistanis and the PRC (People’s Republic of China) speak for themselves about their relationship. These remarks will certainly not be endorsed by me,” Price said during a regular press briefing.

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The US said it values its relationship with Pakistan while emphasising that there was no requirement, as far as Washington was concerned, for other countries to choose between the US and China.

“We’ve made the point all along that it is not a requirement for any country around the world to choose between the United States and China,” Ned Price told reporters when asked if Pakistan and China have become closer because “they feel abandoned” by the US.

Rahul, while speaking in Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks on President’s address during the ongoing Budget Session of Parliament on Wednesday, said, “India’s single most important strategic goal has been to keep China and Pakistan apart but what you have done has only brought them together.”