Pakistan’s Deputy PM Ishaq Dar on May 13, 2024, arrived at Beijing to attend the fifth strategic dialogue with his Chinese counterpart to discuss the serious economic crisis in the cash strapped country and Beijing’s concerns over increasing number of attacks on Chinese nationals and personnel working in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.
Dar, also the foreign minister is the first top official to visit China after Pakistan PM Shahbaz Sharif took over the premiership following politically volatile general elections. Dar arrived in Beijing on a four-day visit for comprehensive dialogue on strategic direction of all weather ties between the two countries in the fast changing regional and global situation.
In the fifth strategic dialogue the two sides will comprehensively review bilateral relations including economic and trade cooperation, high level exchanges and visits upgradation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), future initiatives for connectivity and geopolitical situation, Pakistan’s news agency reported.
The dialogue between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Dar was expected to be held on May 15, 2024. After his arrival, Dar met the Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation and Organisation Zhang Ming and heads of some Chinese companied to scout for investments in Pakistan.
In his meeting with Zhang, the Dara reaffirmed Pakistan’s unwavering commitment to the SCO Charter and the Beijing based organisations fundamental ideals and expressed Islamabad strong commitment to advancing SCO security and development agenda, an international media agency reported. Last month, the former PM Nawaz Sharif made a surprise visit to China’s Guangzhou city for medical checkups, he reported meeting several Chinese corporate heads to scout for investment in his country.
He later visited Hong Kong according to reports. His visit was followed by Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan’s Federal Minister of Planning Development and Special Initiatives, who held talks with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister and China ‘s former Ambassador to Pakistan, Sun Weidong. Their wide-ranging discussions aimed at solidifying the All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership said a press release from the Pakistan Embassy in Beijing.
The visits were in preparation for Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif first visit to China, following recent elections Pakistan is reportedly pitching for country’s rail project connecting Islamabad to Karachi estimated to cost eight billion USD. The strategic dialogue is key for both countries in the current state of serious economic and political crisis faced by Pakistan, a country has major strategic investments in the past few decades which analysts say are aimed at containing India’s rise.
China has been bankrolling Pakistan with periodic bailouts to maintain foreign exchange reserves as the cash strapped country faced a prolonged economic crisis sustained on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout packages.
While the details of their strategic ties especially on the military front largely remained secretive, officials have here said Beijing is increasingly getting troubled by periodic attacks that militant groups conducted on Chinese personnel working in the score of USD 60 billion CPEC. The CPEC connects Gwadar Port in Pakistan’s Balochistan with China’s Xinjiang province is opposed by India as it is passes through Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK).
In March this year, the five Chinese nationals one Pakistani national were killed when their vehicle was attacked in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. They worked at the Dasu Hydropower project undertaken by a Chinese company.
Pakistan blames terror groups emanating from Taliban ruled Afghanistan for attacks on the Chinese while Kabul has denied any patronage. For China, which maintains close ties with the Taliban regime the seemingly irreconcilable differences between former allies Pakistan and Taliban become a diplomatic challenge.
On China’s concerns over security issues Iqbal said “I want to assure Chinese people that the Pakistani government values them as very precious and important guests and will leave no possible human effort to give them added security.”
He blamed the attacks on external enemies. “We have a dedicated force of 12,000 army men under a major general whose missions is to protect and safeguard Chinese people working on different projects. In addition, the police, paramilitary forces also augment this force,” he told a media agency.
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