China welcomes third-party participation in CPEC

BEIJING: China welcomed third-party participation in China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on the principle of equality and voluntarism, said a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry Geng Shuang here on Monday.
He termed CPEC “an open initiative” and invited more countries to join it. Commenting on the commissioning of a power plant built by China and Qatar in Karachi, Geng Shuang said at regular news briefing that Qatar’s participation showed that the CPEC is open for third country’s participation. The first unit of the 1320MW coal-fired power plant at Port Qasim in Pakistan, under the CPEC project, was inaugurated on November 29. The Port Qasim plant has been developed jointly by the Power China Resources Limited and Qatar’s Al-Mirqab Capital with a total investment of $2.085 billion. It is the second major energy project under the CPEC.
“This is the first project participated by the third country. It shows that the CPEC is an open initiative. We are willing to explore the participation of more countries with the principle of equality and voluntarism,” Geng said.