'Nothing new': White House on Biden's statement over Pakistan's nuclear assets

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Saturday said US President Joe Biden’s statement regarding Pakistan’s nuclear assets were “nothing new”, adding that he has made those comments before as well.

“The president [Biden] views a secure and prosperous Pakistan critical to US interests. So that is something that he has been on Pakistan,” the press secretary said replying to a question during a press gaggle.

She further added that he has made those comments before, “so that is nothing new, what you heard from him last night”.

“He believes in a secure and prosperous Pakistan, and so he believes that’s important to our own interests here in the US,” she clarified.

'Pakistan one of most dangerous nations in the world'

Earlier, US President Biden said Pakistan may be one of the "most dangerous nations in the world" during an address in California while speaking about the changing global geopolitical situation.

The US president reasoned that he thought so as Pakistan has "nuclear weapons without cohesion".

According to the transcript, available on the White House website, of Biden's address at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reception in California, he said: “… And what I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion.”

A senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in an unofficial talk with Geo News, called Biden's remarks "unnecessary", saying it is difficult to understand in what context President Biden said that.

The official added that several US presidents and the US government have always described the security and controls of Pakistan's nuclear programme as effective and standard.

Biden's allegations against Pakistan's nuclear programme came as he spoke about the aggressive attitudes of China and Russia. "Did anybody think we would be in a situation where China is trying to figure out its role relative to Russia and relative to India and relative to Pakistan," Biden asked.

The US president said that he has spent more time with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping than any other head of state in the world, 68 hours of which was in person.

Referring to Jinping, Biden said that he "understands what he wants but has an enormous array of problems".

"How do we handle that? How do we handle that relative to what’s going on in Russia? And what I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion," the US president said, adding that despite a lot going on, the US has a hunk of opportunities to change the dynamic in the second quarter of the 21st century.