The friendliest relations among any two countries around the world exist between the People’s Republic of China and Pakistan, and are based on mutual trust, confidence, cooperation, assistance as well as unanimity of views on major international and regional issues and concerns. These relations are going to be further promoted, strengthened and deepened following Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s maiden official visit to China in the first week of November, 2022.
The two-day official visit was Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s first bilateral visit after assuming office and had taken place at the personal invitation of President Xi Linping who had invited him to visit China immediately after the 20 National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). During the short two-day visit the prime minister met with President Xi Linping and held talks with Premier of the State Council Li Keqiang and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Preoples’ Congress Li Zhanshu This was President Xi’s second meeting with PM Shehbaz Sharif in less than two months.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif went through a hectic schedule of meetings and engagements during the short visit which can easily be described as quite a historic one on the short and long term basis.
Following the visit a comprehensive joint statement was issued by the two sides. During the visit a number of agreements and MoUs were signed or concluded in the areas of e-commerce, digital economy, export of agricultural products, financial cooperation, protection of cultural property, infrastructure, flood relief, post disaster reconstruction, Global Development Initiative (GDI), animal disease control, livelihood, cultural cooperation, space, geosciences as well as law enforcement and security. The PM was accompanied by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Foreign Minister Bilawal Zardri Bhutto, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb among others who signed these documents details of which will become public in due course of time as these are given practical shape one after the other, by the official quarters concerned of both the countries.
PM Shehbaz Sharif felicitated President XI on his re-election as the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, commended his contributions toward continued growth of Pakistan-China relations and invited him to visit Pakistan. Accepting the invitation, the Chinese President said that he would visit Pakistan at his earliest conveniences The two leaders also pledged to continue working together to further deepen the bilateral ties between the two countries.
Pakistani and Chinese leaders held an in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations as well as the regional situation and international political landscape. Both the sides agreed on the importance of the China-Pakistan All Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership amidst the emerging global challenges. Meetings between the visiting Pakistan premier and Chinese leaders were quite obviously and expectedly marked by traditional warmth, mutual strategic trust and commonality of views. Needless to mention here that the PM on arrival in Beijing. was warmly received by China with premium courtesy which reflected the closeness and friendly time-tested relations between the two countries.
The leaders firmly reaffirmed that close strategic ties and profound friendship between China and Pakistan was time-tested and resilient, and that the friendship was a historic choice of both peoples that serves the interests of the two countries. The Chinese side reiterated that relations with Pakistan would always be given the highest priority in its foreign policy. The Pakistani side underscored that the Pakistan-China relationship was the cornerstone of its foreign policy and that the Pakistani people always supported the closest friendship between the two countries.
The prime minister’s visit quite historical, successful and productive and the outcome of the visit will be becoming visible much sooner than expected as the leadership of the two countries will be pursuing the decisions, agreements and other concerned matters at the appropriate level respectively to ensure the desired fruits rising from the visit reach the people of Pakistan at the earliest possible without obstacles and hindrances.
The Pakistani side briefed the Chinese on the situation in the Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and the two sides reiterated that a peaceful and prosperous South Asia was in the common interest of all parties, and the Chinese side reiterated that the Kashmir issue should be properly and peacefully on the basis of the UN Charter, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements.
On Afghanistan, the two sides agreed that a peaceful, prosperous, interconnected and stable Afghanistan was fundamental to regional prosperity and progress. China and Pakistan also underscored the need for the international community to provide continued assistance and support to Afghanistan including through the unfreezing of Afghanistan’s overseas financial assets and agreed to continue their humanitarian assistance for the Afghan people as well as enhance development cooperation in Afghanistan including through CPEC’s extension to Afghanistan.
The Pakistani side expressed support for the Global Development Initiative and also for the Global Security Initiative put forward by the Chinese side.
The uniqueness of two countries’ closest friendly relations lie in the strong support of practical cooperation underpinned by the great game changer, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which was playing a leading role in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). As many as 47 projects have either been launched or completed with a total investment of more than $25 billion and large number of 150,000 jobs already created.
The 11th CPEC Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) was virtually held on October 27, laying a strong foundation for the visit by the Pakistani prime minister, and the leaders of the two countries reached important and much needed consensus on the ML-1 project for its early completion. China has also agreed to actively advance the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) and encourage Chinese enterprises to participate in solar power and other renewable energy projects in Pakistan
In the first phase of CPEC, China will also be stepping up cooperation in
Industry, agriculture, science and technology in order to better serve Pakistan’s industrialization and enhance its export competitiveness, new concepts like health corridor, industrial corridor, digital corridor and green corridor will also become an important part of the high -quality development of CPEC, as per the agreement reached between the two sides.
The year 2023 will usher in the China-Pakistan Year of Tourism and Exchange and the Gandhara Art Exhibition will be held at the Palace Museum, showcasing Pakistan’s diverse culture and long history of interaction with China, according to the joint statement.
Massive destruction caused by unprecedented heaviest rains and deadliest historical floods in Pakistan and ongoing relief and rehabilitations of the large number of affected people in the country also figured during the talks between Pakistani and Chinese leaders. China announced an extra 500 million yuan emergency aid for post-disaster reconstruction ring the total aid to 1.16 billion yuan (Rs 36 billion) thus ranking first among other countries.
The prime minister’s visit quite historical, successful and productive and the outcome of the visit will be becoming visible much sooner than expected as the leadership of the two countries will be pursuing the decisions, agreements and other concerned matters at the appropriate level respectively to ensure the desired fruits rising from the visit reach the people of Pakistan at the earliest possible without obstacles and hindrances.
