THE most recently held 6th Trilateral Foreign Minister Dialogue in Kabul reaffirmed Pakistan and China’s commitment to jointly work with Afghanistan in promoting regional peace, development and stability.
It highlighted the shared resolve of all three countries to foster regional stability and prosperity, while extending the benefits of the Pak-China partnership to other nations in the region and beyond. Joint efforts to eradicate terrorist groups and combat terrorism dominated the trilateral discussions, vividly reflecting the strategic importance of peace, progress and prosperity, while underscoring the role of trans-regional connectivity and socio-economic integration through CPEC 2.0, which is expected to link Afghanistan and Central Asia in the near future.
Subsequently, the holding of the Strategic Dialogue between Pakistan and China in Islamabad was timely having immense geopolitical and geo-strategic significance and remained instrumental to remove all speculations on the recent visit of Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese Foreign Minister to India and increasing bilateral relations of Pak-USA. It seems to be a balanced diplomacy of every country which would further brighten prospects of peace, stability and harmony in the region and beyond.
During the 5th Strategic Dialogue Wang highlighted China and Pakistan bonding of trust and loyalty, standing together through thick and thin as steadfast, reliable friends. His assurance that China will continue to prioritize Pakistan in its neighborhood diplomacy, unwaveringly supporting Pakistan in safeguarding its national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, combating terrorism, achieving unity and stability, accelerating development and revitalization and playing a greater role in international and regional affairs has great socio-economic, geopolitical and geostrategic significance. Additionally, exchanging in-depth views on multiple facets of bilateral cooperation including the CPEC 2.0 trade, economic relations, information technology, cybersecurity, multilateral cooperation and people-to-people ties has further strengthened bilateral relations of both the states.
While attending a comprehensive meeting at the Prime Minister’s House, FM Wang Yi termed China and Pakistan ironclad friends and all-weather strategic partners, expressing China’s desire to elevate bilateral relations to new heights of cooperation. He affirmed that China would continue working with Pakistan to promote regional peace, development and stability. In response, PM Shehbaz Sharif expressed deep appreciation for China’s steadfast support in safeguarding Pakistan’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and national development, reiterating Pakistan’s unwavering support on China’s core issues and commitment to further deepen their All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership. The Premier also emphasized expanding cooperation in trade, investment, ICT, agriculture, industrialization and mining, highlighting the growing economic and trade ties, while underscoring CPEC 2.0’s importance for Pakistan’s socio-economic development and regional connectivity.
During his stay in Pakistan the Chinese FM Wang also met President Asif Ali Zardari at the President’s House. President Zardari also dubbed both countries as “iron brothers, time-tested friends and all-weather strategic partners”, adding that friendship with China was the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy, which enjoyed “unanimous public, political and institutional support” in the country. Expressing his views, Mr Wang Yi said that friendship between China and Pakistan has lasted for generations and is based on good faith, credibility and strong all-weather strategic partnership. Earlier in a meeting between FM Dar and Wang earlier, the two reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to the accelerated development of CPEC during the 6th Strategic Dialogue.
The two sides reviewed the entire gamut of Pakistan-China relations and discussed important regional and global issues. They also exchanged in-depth views on multiple facets of bilateral cooperation, including CPEC 2.0, trade and economic relations, multilateral cooperation and people-to-people ties. Underlining the “All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership between Pakistan and China”, both officials agreed that their friendship was significant for maintaining regional peace and stability and indispensable for their progress and prosperity. They also agreed to continue close coordination and communication, both bilaterally and at multilateral forums.
In summary, strategic dialogue between Pakistan and China was fruitful as the two leaders discussed various matters of mutual interest. Interestingly, the entire gamut of Pakistan-China relations, including CPEC, trade and investment, science and technology and people-to-people cooperation along with the important developments pertaining to the region and the world at large were also thoroughly discussed showing complete unanimity and harmony. Hopefully, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s forthcoming visit to China attending the SCO-CHS summit and also meeting top Chinese leadership, including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang would further strengthen bilateral relations of both sides. It is a healthy sign that CPEC remained the cornerstone of Pakistan and China’s strategic partnership, stating that the current priority was to advance development of the corridor nullifying ongoing media propaganda in the country. Thus CPEC as a growth corridor, livelihood-enhancing corridor, green corridor and open corridor should be developed, diversified and implemented as soon as possible.
To conclude, coordinated efforts should be further deepened to further strengthen bilateral qualitative industrial, hybrid agriculture and mining cooperation to improve the Pakistani people’s welfare, accelerate Pakistan’s capability for self-sustained development and increase Pakistan’s economic resilience. China’s support of the development and operation of Gwadar Port and promoting the Karakoram Highway realignment project should be streamlined along with third-party participation in the ML-1 (Main Line) railway project. The private sector should be actively involved in SEZ development, cooperation in renewable energy, lithium battery, EVs and green hydrogen power generation should be expanded and CPEC should be linked with Gwadar’s port potential to open new export markets in Central Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
—The writer is President: The Centre for Knowledge & Public Policy (CKPP), Lahore.
