‘Pak-China ties transformed into pragmatic cooperation’

ISLAMABAD: Chinese Ambassador Jian Zaidong has said that the all-weather Sino-Pak friendship has transformed into a pragmatic cooperation, injecting inexhaustible impetus into the building of a community with a shared future. He was addressing a huge gathering here Tuesday at the Pakistan-China Friendship Centre to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China.

Giving the historical reference, the Chinese envoy said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), from the initial layout of cooperation with a focus on Gwadar Port, infrastructure development, energy and industrial cooperation, to the construction of an “upgraded version” with its corridors for growth, green, livelihood enhancing and innovation has now become an important platform and a well-known name card for all-round cooperation between the two countries.

The ambassador said that as a landmark project of Belt and Road Initiative (B&RI) cooperation, batch after batch of projects has been launched, completed and put into operation under the framework of CPEC, which has brought a total of US $25.4 billion in direct investment, 236,000 jobs, 510km of highways, over 8000 MW of electricity and 886km of core transmission network besides continuously enhancing the capacity of sustainable development for Pakistan. Besides, counter-terrorism cooperation, defence cooperation and people-to-people exchanges are also fruitful, constantly enriching the connotation of all-weather strategic cooperation between the two countries.

“President Xi Jinping said that the China-Pakistan friendship is like a thriving tree with deep roots and luxuriant leaves, he said and recalled that since the newly born China established diplomatic ties with Pakistan in 1951, the two countries have embarked on a new chapter of Pakistan-China friendship. It has evolved into an all-weather strategic cooperative partnership. From the Chinese tallow tree planted by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in Shakarparian Park in 1964 to the pine trees planted by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Xi Jinping at the Prime Minister House in 2015, under the nurturing of the leaders of our two countries and the joint efforts of both sides, Pakistan-China friendship has grown into a towering tree, deeply rooted in the hearts of the two peoples. Ambassador Jian Zaidong referred to President Xi Jinping’s historic state visit to Pakistan in 2015 that elevated the bilateral relations to an all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, and set the goal of building an even closer Pakistan-China community with a shared future in the new era, which provided fundamental principles and operational guidelines to the development of China-Pakistan relations. The ambassador was of the view that history will remember that at critical moments when New China restored the lawful seat in the United Nations, or faced with natural disasters and difficult challenges, our iron-clad brother of Pakistan always stepped forward and provided precious help.

“History will also remember that China has always been Pakistan’s strong backing when Pakistan was in need.

From Pakistan’s generous provision of tents to China during the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, to China’s full efforts to help Pakistan cope with the“flood of the century” in 2022; from the firm support between the two countries in jointly fighting COVID-19, to the selfless assistance projects such as the Gwadar Seawater Desalination Plant and Pakistan-China Friendship Hospital which completed last year, the Pakistan-China traditional friendship is getting wider and longer like the Karakoram Highway,” the ambassador said. “We are ready to further promote high-quality B&R cooperation with the Pakistani side, implement the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, and make positive contributions to building an equal and orderly multipolar world as well as a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization.

The Chinese ambassador told the gathering that recently, certain countries have wantonly distorted UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 and maliciously hyped the so-called “undetermined status of Taiwan” in a vain attempt to “use Taiwan to contain China.” In the face of this countercurrent, political dignitaries from many countries, including President Asif Ali Zardari, and people from all walks of life have made it clear that they abide by the one-China principle and firmly support China’s cause of opposing “independence” and promoting reunification and justice. Expressing the resolve that “using Taiwan to contain China” will not succeed, Ambassador Jian Zaidong said no matter how the situation in Taiwan changes, no matter who is in power, the fact that both sides of the strait belong to one China will not be changed, and the general trend of China’s eventual reunification will not be stopped.