IT became once again evident on Thursday that there was complete consensus in Pakistan to forge multi-dimensional ties with our great neighbour China for the sake of mutual good. Speaking at the China’s National Day Reception, hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of People’s Republic of China, President Asif Ali Zardari reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to work together with China for shared prosperity and promoting peace and stability in the world. Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would help Pakistan transform its economy. Reciprocating the sentiments of Pakistani leadership, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, Jiang Zaidong reaffirmed China’s dedication to working alongside Pakistan in the active implementation of its global initiative.
The very fact that the reception was attended by the top leadership of the country, members of the federal cabinet, parliamentarians, political leaders, diplomats and senior civil and military officers spoke of the importance that Pakistan attaches to its relations with China, which has blossomed all along irrespective of the fact who was in power in Islamabad or in Beijing. This is because this friendship, based on sovereign equality and mutual respect, has full backing of the people of Pakistan. Repeated attempts were made and conspiracies hatched to sow seeds of discord between the two countries by some vested interests including venomous propaganda against the purely economic initiative of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), targeted attacks on Chinese engineers and technicians working on vital development projects in Pakistan and disinformation against civil nuclear cooperation but credit goes to the leadership and people of the two countries, who thwarted designs of the enemy because of their unwavering commitment to take the process of fruitful collaboration forward. This is also evident from the firm resolve of both Pakistan and China to make the CPEC venture a memorable success. The initiative is already contributing its share to the socio-economic development of Pakistan, especially the backward regions, and the decision to make it high quality cooperation through the second phase is manifestation of the resolve of the two countries to pursue it with the same vigour as originally envisaged. Of course, there were some legitimate concerns of the Chinese side about security of their manpower but the issue has amicably been resolved with active involvement and interest of both civil and military leadership of Pakistan. What President Asif Ali Zardari said was a ground reality as CPEC is the flag-ship project of the visionary plan of the Chinese President, Mr. Xi Jinping – Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which is aimed at sharing fruits of development and prosperity among nations of the globe. Instead of stoking troubles in different parts of the world to feed the domestic war industry, China has opened its doors wide open for fruitful cooperation to ameliorate the lot of the people, create world class infrastructure and generate employment opportunities. The sincerity of China is also evident from the fact that it is providing necessary funding to different countries for BRI related projects and programmes. The philosophy behind the historic vision is to create inter-dependencies, which would ensure regional and global peace and security. Apart from developmental cooperation for peace and prosperity, China is also working aggressively on the diplomatic front in the search for peaceful resolution of conflicts in different parts of the globe. This role has also been acknowledged by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who reiterated that the ongoing partnership of the two countries not only fostered regional development and peace but also contributed to global stability and progress, aligning with President Xi Jinping’s vision. It was also reassuring to note that the current leadership in Pakistan is committed to take measures to regain the lost momentum of the CPEC. Realizing the fruits accruing to the country due to rapid implementation of the first phase, the Prime Minister has rightly pointed out that the second phase has huge potential of mutual cooperation in the field of agriculture, information technology, mines and minerals and many other important areas of mutual interests. Its implementation has already begun with understanding on the roadmap for the second phase like ML-I project and dispatch of Pakistani graduates to China for pursuing higher studies and training in agriculture. We hope with the active interest of the leadership of the two countries, all irritants in the way of accelerated execution of agreed projects will be sorted out to ensure their timely completion.
