THE historic ten years of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan on 20-21 April 2015 have been completed.
This visit has been a significant milestone in Pakistan’s development and has been memorable in many ways, providing a new dimension to diplomatic, economic, defence and strategic cooperation.
Both countries established the world’s first “All-weather strategic cooperative partnership” during this period.
This was President Xi’s first visit to Pakistan, during which 51 agreements were signed and the foundation for the great revolutionary project, CPEC, was laid.
Undoubtedly, the Belt and Road Initiative is a successful project of the 21st century.
President Xi Jinping’s visit has practically made the relations between the two countries possible and today both are benefiting from the results of the economic corridor.
Pakistan has constructed 18,000 kilometres of roads under the CPEC project.
During the visit, President Xi Jinping was awarded a Friendship Award based on the five principles of peaceful coexistence.
He delivered a historic speech for 40 minutes at a joint session of Parliament.
On the occasion of the golden tenth anniversary of the Chinese President’s visit to Pakistan, Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zhidong paid tribute to the unbreakable friendship of the two “Iron Brothers” and mentioned that in the past decade, China has emerged as Pakistan’s largest trading partner.
CPEC has turned from a dream into a reality.
Various power projects, including the upgrade of the Gwadar port, thermal, hydropower, wind and solar energy, have helped alleviate power shortages in Pakistan.
The Orange Line Metro has been launched and the Khunjerab Pass remains open throughout the year.
After the completion of the K2 and K3 nuclear power plants, they have been put into operation and construction of the C5 nuclear power plant has begun.
Our central banks have extended currency swap agreements and the RMB clearing bank has started operations in Pakistan.
Together, we have conducted high-quality joint military exercises to confront security challenges, which included the “Warrior” series for the army, “Shaheen” for the air force and “Sea Guardian” for the navy.
China’s tri-service honorary troops and the August 1 aerobatics team participated in the Pakistan Day parade, while VT-4 main battle tanks, J-10CE fighter jets and AP 054 frigates have been incorporated into the Pakistani armed forces.
During the world’s worst pandemic, coronavirus, both countries worked together to protect their people.
In the worst floods of the century in Pakistan, China provided $260 million in aid.
Both governments signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly promote cooperation on the Global Security Initiative (GSI).
There is no doubt that over the past decade, President Xi Jinping has played a vital role in enhancing Pakistan-China relations.
Indeed, China and Pakistan are two significantly different nations with distinct religions, customs, habits, cultures, languages and cuisines, yet President Xi Jinping has made us “Iron Brothers.”
In fact, we need to learn from China’s political structure on how the resilient Chinese not only manage to navigate difficulties, but how their unmatched determination and perseverance have allowed them to establish dominance over the global superpower, the United States, in every field.
The greatest feature of China is that they have become one nation, while we are still searching for our unity.
It is important to remember that we were also an Asian economic tiger until 1974.
Looking back through the pages of history, Pakistan was a role model for China when the Chinese President’s one-hour visit to the PICO Industries in Lahore extended to eight hours.
He was astounded by the development of engineering in Pakistan.
When my father, General Hamid Gul (may Allah have mercy on him) and I visited Shanghai, we were mesmerized by its lights and splendour.
During a dinner invitation from the Mayor of Shanghai, my father asked him about the secret of their development.
He replied in excellent Urdu that when he studied in Karachi, he was inspired by its wide roads, lights and business expansions, thinking that one day his country would achieve such progress.
Unfortunately, we have strayed from the right path.
The issue is that our total trade with the United States is $6.2 billion, subject to its “do more” demands.
When will trade with Iran become our top priority?
Iranian President Ahmadinejad once told me during a meeting that my heart weeps tears of blood because I cannot trade with Pakistan.
Our first trade with Pakistan will be $15 billion and will occur under a barter system.
Imagine, if the dollars remain within the country, I can confidently say that they will drop by 100 rupees.
For this, we need to break free from being an American colony.
The time has come to focus on trade with China, encouraging it to establish industries in Pakistan and provide 50 percent of employment opportunities to Pakistanis.
Only then will it be possible to generate 2.3 million jobs.
The China Window’s role is to establish concentration centres for guiding traders.
The establishment of the China Trade House in Pakistan is urgently needed.
To increase trade with China, the government, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Interior must take effective measures, especially since trade with China exceeds $100 billion despite tensions with India.
We must also determine our own path.
In the present context, China and Iran are very important for us.
We need to secure our borders while stabilizing our economy.
In 2006, US Colonel Peter Ralph presented “bloody maps” titled “Borders Blood” in the American Defense Journal, the world’s largest defense magazine.
According to his analysis, a conspiracy is underway to create a free Balochistan by connecting Iraq, Libya and now Balochistan in Pakistan with Balochistan in Iran.
This is the true agenda of imperialist powers, which is being fulfilled by igniting terrorism in Balochistan.
Sarah Adams, head of US counterintelligence, confessed during a three-hour briefing that the CIA had established a cell to create Pashtunistan.
The question is, why did the US leave $8 billion worth of weapons in Afghanistan?
Today, Pakistan’s largest security issue is CPEC, which is targeted by global imperialism.
For this purpose, the Special Security Division (SSD), which includes 27 battalions, equivalent to a corps, has been established.
The world’s fifth-largest terrorist organization, BLA, is involved in terrorist activities against Gwadar, with its leadership based in Geneva and no one is willing to take action against them.
Let me be clear: the US is certainly not our friend.
On the other hand, China also needs to understand all matters in its context, as we are paying the price with our blood.
The United States stands with its allies, providing them with military, diplomatic and political support, as exemplified by the Ukraine war.
Is China standing in the same way with Pakistan?
It is time to acknowledge Pakistan’s sacrifices!
