Mubasher: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has officially replaced the US dollar with the Chinese yuan for bilateral trade and investment activities with Beijing after the US president Donald Trump smashed Islamabad for harboring terrorists on Twitter.

Given Trump has tweeted in his first tweet of 2018 that the US had "foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit."

Accordingly, the Pakistani government expressed "deep disappointment" at the US leader's remarks, labelling them as "completely incomprehensible.”

Meanwhile, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang defended Islamabad's counter-terrorism track record, saying the country "made great efforts and sacrifices for combating terrorism".

It is worth mention that China has made up around 28% of Pakistan's imports, as well as its third biggest export market, behind the US and the UK, according to official data.

"Pakistan balks far less at reductions in American aid, which, as the former points out, has dwindled in recent years anyway,” nonresident fellow at Brookings Madiha Afzal said in a recent note.

“China, on the other hand, has promised Pakistan $57 billion in investments on infrastructure and energy under its Belt and Road Initiative," Afzal added, pointing out that "all this means that America has far less leverage over Pakistan."

"The history of Pakistan's relationships with China and the United States also shows that Pakistan's policy does not respond to strong-handedness, but to loyalty, and to being treated with dignity," she continued.

On 19 December, Pakistan’s minister for planning and development Ahsan Iqbal had said that the government was considering to use Chinese renminbi or yuan, instead of the US dollar for payments in all bilateral trade.