Prime Minister Imran Khan, concluded his official visit from 3-6 February 2022, to the People’s Republic of China. He visited China on the formal invitation from the Chinese leadership to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games 2022, in Beijing. He attended the Winter Olympics to show solidarity with China and strong support for the Games. He is a sportsman and promotes sports as a tool to promote understanding and harmony for global peace.
During the visit, the Prime Minister held talks with H.E. President Xi Jinping, and H.E. Premier Li Keqiang, Chinese entrepreneurs.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, calling for more efforts to strengthen bilateral strategic cooperation.
China and Pakistan marked the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations last year, Xi noted, hailing the strong ties and momentum in bilateral cooperation.
China is ready to work with the Pakistani government to jointly build a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, to bring greater well-being for peoples in both countries and provide more impetus for regional cooperation and stability, Xi said.
The president also highlighted the significance of China-Pakistan strategic relations, saying that the two countries should further strengthen economic cooperation, regional connectivity, and cooperation in fighting terrorism.
He also voiced support to the Pakistani government’s defense of independence, sovereignty, and dignity, as well as its efforts to combat terrorism.
Xi said China upholds fairness and justice in international affairs. He stressed that the Chinese people will not create trouble but are not afraid of it and that China is capable and confident of safeguarding its national sovereignty, security, and development interests.
China is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with Pakistan in international affairs and jointly maintain world and regional peace and stability, he added.
For his part, PM Imran Khan congratulated China on the successful opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.
The prime minister also expressed appreciation for China’s great support for Pakistan to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the vaccines provided by China have saved not only the lives of the Pakistani people but also the country’s economy.
He said Pakistan and China are all-weather friends and Pakistan will always firmly support China in its core interests.
Khan also expressed Pakistan’s readiness to promote the construction of the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and strengthen cooperation in various areas such as industry, agriculture, and technology.
He added that Pakistan is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China on regional issues such as Afghanistan to maintain regional security and stability.
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday held wide-ranging talks with Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, in Beijing.
He was accompanied by the foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, minister for Finance Shaukat Tareen, Minister for Planning, Reform and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, minister for Information & Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhary besides senior officials.
The two leaders agreed to work closely on further deepening bilateral economic engagement and reaffirmed their commitment to further advance the multifaceted strategic cooperative ties and building the Pakistan-China Community of Shared Future in the new era.
The interaction between the two leaders was marked by traditional sentiments of warmth, deep mutual trust, and understanding. During the meeting, they reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral ties, including discussions on the bilateral economic and trade relations, onward march of CPEC, and important issues of regional and global concern.
The two sides reaffirmed the centrality of the Pakistan-China All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership and reiterated support on each other’s issues of core interest.
The prime minister appreciated the transformational impact of CPEC on Pakistan’s infrastructure, energy, socio-economic development, and improvement in the livelihoods of the people. He underlined that Pakistan is committed to the high-quality development of CPEC through its mutually reinforcing industrial, trade, health, digital and green corridors.
The prime minister shared with Premier Li the measures taken by the government to provide policy guidance and support for enhanced Chinese investments in the CPEC SEZs and Special Technology Zones, and the safety and security of Chinese nationals, projects, and institutions in Pakistan.
On the regional security situation, the issues of Kashmir and Afghanistan were highlighted and underscored and both sides fully agreed to make joint efforts for the shared objectives of peace, stability, and development in the region, he said.
Deepening of comprehensive pragmatic cooperation between the two countries, leaders of both countries reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral ties including the bilateral economic and trade relations, and are committed to high-quality development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) through its mutually reinforcing industrial, trade, health, digital and green corridors.
During the visit, China and Pakistan signed a series of important cooperation documents, especially the Framework Agreement on Industrial Cooperation under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The Framework Agreement on Industrial Cooperation between the Board of Investment (BOI) of Pakistan and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China will facilitate the relocation of China’s industrial units to CPEC Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and accelerate China’s investment and industrial and technological scale transfer to Pakistan so that large-scale production and export of modern industrial products can be quickly formed in Pakistan.
Prime Minister Imran Khan and his delegation had extensive interactions with the executives of Chinese state-owned and private corporate sectors, offering a conducive environment for investment in SEZs, which has greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of Chinese enterprises to invest in Pakistan.
Many Chinese companies immediately expressed that they were keen to expand investment in Pakistan in projects related to energy, textile, fiber-optics networks, housing, dairy, water management and recycling of metals and paper, etc. while some other enterprises expressed their desire to establish a $3.5 billion reprocessing park in Gwadar and a $350 million textile cluster near Lahore. The Chinese textile firm, reputed for high export-quality apparel, planned to build a textile cluster on over 100 acres of land near Lahore, which would create around 20,000 jobs.
The representatives of three major agricultural firms wanted to jointly establish a modernization research lab and a demonstration plot to improve yield and seed quality in Pakistan. The Chinese fertilizer companies desired to invest in the export-oriented growth of corn and soybeans, high-value-added crops, etc.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi held a meeting with State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi today in Beijing. The Foreign Minister is accompanying the Prime Minister on a visit to China to attend the 24th Olympic Winter Games.
The Foreign Minister congratulated his Chinese counterpart on the successful hosting of the Winter Olympics and conveyed his best wishes on the Chinese Lunar New Year. Recalling their last meeting in Chengdu for the 3rd round of Pakistan-China Strategic Dialogue, the Foreign Minister appreciated the measures taken by the two sides to strengthen the All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership between Pakistan and China. He thanked his counterpart for China’s firm support of Pakistan’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence, and national development, and reaffirmed Pakistan’s full support to China on all issues of its core interest.
The Foreign Minister underlined that the Prime Minister’s face-to-face meetings with the Chinese leadership would provide fresh momentum to the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership, add new avenues to practical cooperation, spur high-quality development of CPEC including industrial development, and develop greater synergies between the visions of geo-economics and Global Development Initiative.
The two Foreign Ministers also discussed the evolving situation in the region and beyond, in particular the grave humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Qureshi briefed State Councilor Wang on the gross human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and systemic assaults on the freedoms of minorities in India.
Overall the visit was ranked very cordial, successful, and fruitful. It has not only refreshed the close relations but has also opened many new avenues of cooperation and collaboration. It is expected that Chinese investment, shifting of Chinese industry into Pakistan, trade between two countries will boost in the days to come.
PM Imran Khan in an interview with Chinese media said, “I firmly believe that broad consensus reached during the visit and fruitful results of this important visit will inject new impetus to Sino-Pak ironclad friendship and chart the course for the further development of the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership”.
Author: Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan, Sinologist (ex-Diplomat), Editor, Analyst, Non-Resident Fellow of CCG (Center for China and Globalization), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan. (E-mail: awanzamir@yahoo.com).
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