Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has pledged his country’s continued support for Pakistan and urged an acceleration of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure project.
In a whirlwind series of meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other senior officials in Islamabad on Thursday, Wang also vowed to improve security collaboration to counter the country’s long-standing terrorism threats, which have often targeted Chinese nationals.
“China has always been Pakistan’s most reliable partner and strongest backer,” he told Sharif, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.
“Both sides should accelerate the construction of the 2.0 upgrade version of [the CPEC], focusing on the three major areas of agriculture, industry, and mining,” Wang said, adding that China would help Islamabad to “comprehensively improve self-development ability” and “enhance resilience for external challenges”.
Sharif said Islamabad also wanted cooperation in “aerospace, information technology, and infrastructure”, and pledged that Pakistan would make a “full effort” to secure the safety of Chinese nationals and projects from terrorist attacks.
China has invested more than US$65 billion in the CPEC, which includes the China-managed Gwadar Port linking Xinjiang and the Arabian Sea. The second phase of the project, according to Pakistan, involves setting up special economic zones.
In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post earlier this year, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Pakistan’s finance minister, said CPEC 2.0 would enable the country to become an export hub and generate enough foreign currency to pay its debt.
However, the Chinese presence in Pakistan has been repeatedly targeted by the Balochistan Liberation Army and other militants. Since 2021, there have been at least 14 terrorist attacks that have killed 20 Chinese nationals.
During separate meetings on Thursday with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, army chief Asim Munir and Ishaq Dar, the foreign minister, the top Chinese diplomat also highlighted the importance of counterterrorism efforts.
China’s pledge was made against a backdrop of rapidly warming relations between Washington and Islamabad. The US has promised further cooperation with Pakistan on counterterrorism and deeper investment, focusing on oil and other natural resources.
Wang, who was in India this week immediately before his visit to Islamabad, also reiterated Beijing’s support for Pakistan’s “territorial integrity and national security” – a possible reference to the recent deadly conflict over Kashmir.
China is the largest arms supplier to Pakistan, which said it deployed multiple Chinese fighter jets – including the advanced J-10 – against Indian air forces during the conflict in May.
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told Wang in their meeting on Monday that a joint effort was needed to “fight against terrorism”, a remark that was seen as putting pressure on Beijing over Pakistani issues.
Later this month, President Xi Jinping is expected to meet Sharif and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.
Between his India and Pakistan visits, Wang also made a short stop in Afghanistan, where he discussed counterterrorism and expansion of the belt and road programme with Pakistan’s Dar and Taliban officials. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
