CHINESE Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong, who is instrumental in promoting bilateral cooperation in diverse fields, has reiterated his country’s firm support for Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. In an interview, he emphasized President Xi’s personal commitment to advancing China-Pakistan relations, especially through major projects like the Main Line-1 railways, the Karakoram Highway, year-round operation of the Khunjerab Pass and development of Gwadar Port.
There can be no two opinions that the claims about support for sovereignty and territorial integrity are not hollow slogans as a cursory glance on the history of Sino-Pak relations clearly shows Beijing’s steadfast position on bilateral issues. This is evident from the strong diplomatic and political support that Pakistan has received from China on all issues of its interest in all regional and global forums; robust defence cooperation; record investment in various sectors of Pakistan’s economy especially development of an international standard infrastructure, which is a must for socio-economic progress; and timely financial support to avert major crises. It is also a reality that the Chinese invested in several gigantic projects for which no one else was ready to offer assistance. People of Pakistan cannot forget the valuable cooperation of China in defence production and development of the country’s nuclear energy sector. It is because of all this that all Pakistanis are proud of the friendship with China and aspire to take this strategic partnership to new heights in times to come. The future of this relationship is quite bright as has also been highlighted by the Chinese Ambassador, who said the two countries, during the last visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to China, agreed upon specific areas of cooperation for future including development of offshore oil and gas resources, clean energy, mining, artificial intelligence, science and technology, finance and space cooperation. These initiatives, he noted, will inject new momentum into practical cooperation between China and Pakistan. It is encouraging that the two countries are also working closely to improve the security environment for Chinese citizens in Pakistan and this would, hopefully, help accelerate the pace of economic cooperation and implementation of various projects.
