China affirmed its commitment on Thursday to working with Pakistan on promoting regional peace, development and stability.
Pakistan and China share a longstanding strategic partnership with ties ranging across different sectors — including trade, energy, defence and infrastructure. The fifth round of Strategic Dialogue in May 2024 was co-chaired by Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing. The Chinese foreign minister is currently on a visit to Pakistan.
Wang called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the Prime Minister’s House, according to a statement from the PM Office. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and senior cabinet members.
“FM Wang Yi emphasised that China regarded Pakistan as an ironclad friend and all-weather strategic partner. He expressed China’s desire to elevate bilateral relations with Pakistan to new heights of cooperation and collaboration. Commending Pakistan’s resolute commitment to safeguarding its sovereignty and territorial integrity, he affirmed that China would continue working jointly with Pakistan to promote regional peace, development, and stability,” the statement said.
Welcoming the Chinese foreign minister, PM Shehbaz expressed “deep appreciation for the leadership, government and the people of China, for their steadfast support to Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national development.
“Reaffirming Pakistan’s unwavering support for China on its core issues, he reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to further deepen its All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership with China, as envisioned by the leadership and aspired by the peoples of the two countries.”
The statement said the premier lauded President Xi Jinping’s “visionary leadership and his role in strengthening the ironclad friendship” between Pakistan and China.
Recalling his “most cordial and productive meeting” with President Xi during his visit to Beijing last year, PM Shehbaz stated that he was greatly looking forward to his upcoming visit to Tianjin and Beijing to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Heads of States (SCO-CHS) summit meeting, as well as the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance and the World Anti-Fascist War.
The prime minister said he looked forward to his meeting with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang, as well as other senior Chinese leaders, during the forthcoming visit.
“The prime minister reiterated Pakistan’s desire to deepen bilateral cooperation with China in trade, investment, ICT, agriculture, industrialisation, mines and minerals and other key sectors. He also underscored the importance of CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) for Pakistan’s socio-economic development and its vital role in enhancing regional connectivity, while expressing satisfaction at the steady progress of CPEC Phase-II.”
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.
Addressing a joint press conference after their meeting, FM Dar termed his talks as being “fruitful” as the two leaders discussed various matters of mutual interest.
“We held fruitful and substantive discussions today covering diverse areas of mutual interest,” Dar said.
He continued, “We took stock of progress achieved since the last round of Strategic Dialogue. We also exchanged views on the entire gamut of Pakistan-China relations, including CPEC, trade and investment, science and technology and people-to-people cooperation.”
“The important developments pertaining to our region and the world at large were also reviewed,” he said, adding that both sides enjoyed “complete unanimity of use and consensus on all important matters”.
Dar also mentioned the tri-lateral meeting with Afghan FM Amir Khan Muttaqi, stating, “Recently our two countries have worked together to establish tri-lateral partnerships with other countries in the region.
“These mechanisms signify our joint resolve to promote regional peace, stability and prosperity, and to share the dividends of Pak-China friendship with other countries in the region and beyond.”
He further said, “We also discussed preparations for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s forthcoming visit to China. The PM will attend the SCO-CHS summit and also meet top Chinese leadership, including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.”
He announced that the Pak-China B2B Investment Conference will also be organised during the PM’s visit to China.
Wang described CPEC as the cornerstone of Pakistan and China’s strategic partnership, stating that the current priority was to advance development of the corridor.
He said that during the sixth strategic dialogue, both sides agreed to upgrade CPEC into “a growth corridor, livelihood-enhancing corridor, green corridor and open corridor”.
“We will work hard to deepen our industrial 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,” Wang said.
He added that China was also supporting the development and operation of Gwadar Port and promoting the Karakoram Highway realignment project.
Wang also welcomed third-party participation in the ML-1 (Main Line) railway project.
Additionally, China’s top diplomat said that Beijing would warmly welcome PM Shehbaz for the SCO-CHS summit in Tianjin at the end of this month.
“The two sides will jointly prepare and ensure the success of the series of activities for the 75th anniversary of China-Pakistan diplomatic relations next year,” he said.
Wang also extended his condolences for the lives lost in the recent floods, assuring that Beijing would “immediately provide emergency humanitarian assistance”.
The Chinese foreign minister also commended Pakistan’s role in combatting terrorism, stating that Islamabad was “effectively protecting the safety of Chinese personnel and institutions” in the country.
“China highly commends Pakistan’s tireless efforts in combatting terrorism, as it firmly believes that Pakistan’s counter-terrorism operation will secure victory,” Wang stated.
In response to a question about China’s relations with India, Wang stated that the partnership would “not affect any third party”.
Wang arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier today, to attend the sixth Strategic Dialogue between China and Pakistan, where he was received by FM Dar.
Wang had arrived in Islamabad last night, where he was received by Dar.
“Delighted to receive my dear friend, H.E. Wang Yi, Foreign Minister China, in Pakistan this evening,” Dar wrote on social media yesterday.
He added, “I look forward to productive discussions tomorrow at our dialogue, and with the leadership during his calls on President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.”
A day earlier, the Sixth Trilateral Foreign Ministers Dialogue was held in Kabul between Dar, Wang and Afghan counterpart Muttaqi on the topics of political, economic and security cooperation.
“The three sides committed to strengthening joint efforts against terrorism,“ the Foreign Office said. “They also reaffirmed their commitment to deepening collaboration in trade, transit, regional development, health, education, culture, and combating drug trafficking, as well as extension of CPEC to Afghanistan.”
Last month, Pakistan and China agreed to launch joint training programmes in multiple fields, including construction engineering, artificial intelligence, agriculture and hospitality management, under the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC-II).
PM Shehbaz is expected to travel to Beijing at the end of this month to attend the SCO summit from August 31 to September 1. On the sidelines, he is also expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Earlier this week, the government announced that this upcoming visit will mark the formal launch of CPEC-II, focused on industrial cooperation, after a delay of about five years.