IRS holds round-table on Pak-China relations

Islamabad : Naghmana Hashmi who served as Pakistan’s ambassador to China from 2019 to 2020 has said that Chinese political system is way more pluralistic than is generally perceived.

Ms Naghmana was addressing a roundtable organised by Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) here Wednesday.

Ms Hashmi stated that the Communist Party of China had an elaborate process of soliciting feedback from party cadres and other relevant stakeholders on important national matters before a decision is taken at the top. She said that very body who matters is consulted before taking any decision. Commenting on China-India relations, she opined that while the Chinese public had started warming up to India and the West in early 2000s, their perceptions about the West as well as India completely changed after both tried to pressurise China when it was battling the pandemic of Covid-19 early this year. She said that China did not consider India a serious competitor militarily, economically or culturally. She observed that Beijing would try its best to avoid an all-out confrontation with India because it would jeopardise its long-term plans of economic development.

The speaker credited the long-term planning of the Chinese government for its rapid rise in the late 20th and early 21st-first Centuries. She said that Chinese did not want to be humiliated ever again because of their internal weaknesses. She added that Chinese economic development was a product of technological progress, peaceful resolution of border disputes with all the neighbours and a forward-looking trade and economic policy. She insisted that China had improved its relations not only with Pakistan but also with other South Asian countries excluding India.

Naghmana Hashmi said that China had allowed duty-free access to various Bangladeshi products to its market, it was rapidly improving transport links with Nepal and making economic inroads into Sri Lanka and Maldives.