Pakistan and China have agreed to carry forward traditional friendship and both the countries will never allow any force to sabotage their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Zhao Lijian said on Thurs-day.
“State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a virtual meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari yesterday. The two foreign ministers reached important consensus on deepening our all-whether strategic cooperative partnerships and political cooperation,” he said during his regular briefing in response to a question asked by APP.
He informed that the two foreign minister ex-changed views on further strengthening the safe-guarding of safety for Chinese citizens and institu-tions in Pakistan during their first meeting since the new government in Pakistan came into office.
“It is also the first official bilateral meeting after Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was sworn in,” he added.
The spokesperson said, the two foreign ministers reached important consensus on deepening our all-whether strategic cooperative partnerships and po-litical cooperation, adding, “Both agreed that China and Pakistan should carry forward our traditional friendship.”
He said that friendship towards China remained the shared consensus in Pakistan transcending po-litical differences.
Foreign Minister Bilawal reiterated that the China-Pakistan friendship remained the cornerstone for Pakistan’s foreign policy, and also was a strategic priority for Pakistan.
“The new government will move forward our bilateral relations with the Pakistani speed,”he added.
State Councillor Wang Yi stressed that long-standing friendship between the two friendly coun-tries would not be changed by individual incident and said, “With the concerted efforts of both sides, our partnership will continue to develop with our long term friendship.”
Zhao Lijian remarked that China and Pakistan would deepen practical cooperation across the board. “China stands ready to synergize the development strategy with Pakistan to support Pakistan’s efforts in upholding economic and financial stability.”
He said, the two sides hoped to pursue the high quality development of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) while keeping the good running and operation of the existing important projects.
“We will further deepen cooperation in industrial and other areas to boost the driving force for Pakistan’s economic development and its economical resilience,” he added.
He said, the Chinese side would also try to im-prove the livelihood and wellbeing of the people in both countries and pursue highest and sustainable development for the benefits of the people.
The spokesperson said, the two sides would also deepen anti counterterrorism and law enforcement security cooperation, adding, the terrorist attacks targeting Chinese citizens over the past days are deeply followed and closely followed by the Chinese government and people.
Pakistan pledged to bring to justice the criminals and strengthen security for Chinese institutions and the people, he said and added, “They will never allow any forces to sabotage China-Pakistan relations.”
Zhao Lijian said on May 11, President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos on his election as President of the Philippines. On the same day, Vice President Wang Qishan sent a congratulatory message to Sara Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio on her election as Vice President of the Philippines.
As President Xi Jinping stressed in the con-gratulatory message, China and the Philippines are neighbors facing each other across the waters and partners through thick and thin. In recent years, with the joint efforts of both sides, China-Philippines relations have been consolidated and enhanced, bringing benefits to the people of both countries and contributing to regional peace and stability. At pre-sent, both China and the Philippines are at a critical stage of development, and bilateral relations face important opportunities and broad prospects. China attaches great importance to China-Philippines rela-tions and stands ready to work together with the Philippines to adhere to good-neighborly friendship and common development, and push forward our comprehensive strategic cooperative relationship for the benefit of both countries and peoples.
The spokeperson said, I have noted the report you mentioned. It confirmed that Indigenous children of the US endured a tragic past of torture in Indian boarding schools. The report “expects that continued investigation will reveal the approximate number of Indian children who died at Federal Indian boarding schools to be in the thousands or tens of thousands”.
Such a report is long overdue. Prior to that, the US government had never kept official statistics on the real conditions of these schools, or verified the number of Indigenous children who went to the institutions, died there or were missing. In fact, the US was reluctant to admit the existence of the history at first, and even tried to cover it up. But the great pressure from the Indigenous community, the whole country and the wider world eventually compelled the US to look into the past and unearth facts that shock the world. The report shows from 1819 to 1969, Indigenous children went through unfair treatment including whipping, sexual abuse, forced labor and severe malnourishment in more than 400 federal Indian boarding schools, and more than 500 children died as a result.
The US is founded on the atrocious massacre and persecution of the Indigenous population. The maltreatment of Native Americans is the US original sin convicted by the Indian boarding schools, among facts. Native Americans used to be the dominant population in North America, which has shrunk to represent only 2% of the current US population after massacre and eviction. The US adopted cultural assimilation and occupied Indian reservation with forced separation and resettlement of Indigenous children. But the trauma generations have gone through persists even till today. Native Americans are still under discrimination with worrying health conditions and destitution. Among all the ethnic communities of the US, Native Americans have the lowest life expectancy, the highest poverty rate, the highest rate of youth alcohol abuse, and the lowest community doctor-to-patient ratio. In 2019, about 25% of Native Americans lived in poverty, which is 2.5 times that of the national average.
The dark history of Indian boarding schools is only a tip of the iceberg of the US’ systemic racial discrimination and human rights problems. Racial minorities including Americans of Asian, African, Latin American descent and Muslims still cannot breathe or gain security. Statistics from US research institutions revealed that anti-Asian hate crimes surged by 339% in 2021. From the “Tulsa Massacre” to George Floyd, and to Patrick Lyoya of Michigan who died of police violence not long ago, the list of African American deaths only grows amid racial discrimination. People of Latin American descent, accounting for 19% of the US population, only possess 2% of the country’s wealth. Up to 93.7% of Muslims in the US are living in the shadows of Islamophobia.
The US should fulfill its commitment of “all men are created equal” with concrete actions, and adopt serious measures to truly help ethnic minorities get over their trauma. More importantly, the US should learn from history, treat the social endemic of racism, and avoid repeating the human tragedies time and again.
