ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar Tuesday said Pakistan had ruled out the possibility of forming a joint security force with China to protect thousands of its nationals working on different projects in the country.
Last week, when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited China for the SCO heads of state summit, President Xi Jinping pressed him to improve security for Chinese nationals, who have been repeatedly attacked by militants while working on Beijing-funded multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects in Pakistan under the tag of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
There are media reports that the attacks — particularly a bombing in the southern port city of Karachi killing two Chinese engineers last year — have angered Beijing and pushed it to seek a joint security management system with Islamabad.
However, in an exclusive interview with Arab News, Tarar ruled out the possibility of a joint security force or Islamabad allowing Beijing to bring in its own security staff to protect thousands of Chinese citizens working in Pakistan.
“Obviously, there has to be cooperation, there has to be intelligence-sharing and there has to be a lot of exchange of ideas, that happens all the time,” the minister contended. Tarar was part of the prime minister’s delegation to China.
“But with regard to the on-ground security [presence of Chinese forces], I think Pakistani security forces -- Pakistani armed forces -- are well-equipped to deal with the situation and they’re already dealing with it,” he maintained.
According to Arab News, the minister conceded, “I think as far as the security situation is concerned, yes, it’s a concern. And the prime minister also raised this in his speeches [in China] that we are facing a situation where a security situation does exist, but things are getting better gradually.”
On a positive note, Tarar described Sharif’s recent trip to China as “historic,” highlighting the success of business-to-business (B2B) meetings held on the sidelines of the SCO summit.
He said 900 business participants from both countries signed joint venture agreements worth $1.5 billion and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth $7 billion.
“I think this B2B conference was a great matchmaking event in which the EV [electric vehicle] sector, the textile sector, the mining sector, the energy sector, all sectors were covered. The Chinese investors are ready to even relocate their industry to Pakistan because it is beneficial for them to export their products from Pakistan because the port is near, the Gwadar port [in Balochistan], the Karachi port,” he noted.
Asked which companies were planning to come to Pakistan, he said several textile firms, electric vehicle manufacturers and software development companies had shown interest.
He explained that a number of joint ventures will be on the ground within next six months and hinted at a lot of business activity going on in Pakistan, with Chinese businessmen coming here, opening new offices, and relocating industry.
Asked whether the Asian Development Bank would fund upgrades to part of Pakistan’s creaking railway system, replacing China after prolonged delays in financing, Tarar said, “a lot of negotiations are going on”.
Citing multiple anonymous sources, Reuters reported last month that the ADB was in advanced talks to lead financing of a $2 billion upgrade of a 500-km stretch of the ML-1 railway line from Karachi to Rohri in the south, which had previously been part of the CPEC project.
The minister talked about a striking turnaround in Pakistan’s ties with the US after years of mistrust and diplomatic drift.