NEW YORK - Pakistan pursues close relations with China and the United States simaltaneously, Ambassador Husain Haqqani was quoted as saying by Monday's New York Times, which described the Pakistani envoy in Washington as "the intellectual driving force behind the government's foreign policy." Haqqani, who spoke on the eve of President Asif Ali Zardari's state visit to China, also denied accusations from some quarters in Pakistan that government had downgraded relations with China while trying to placate the United States.  "Pakistan's relations with the United States and China are not an either-or proposition," Haqqani said.  "While some armchair analysts might look unfavourably upon Pakistan's simultaneous pursuit of close relations with China and the United States," he said, "policy makers in Washington and Beijing share interest in strengthening Pakistan and do not see our country as an area of contention between the two powers." Haqqani emphasised that during the 1970s, Pakistan acted as a bridge between the United States and China.