On October 28, Pakistani Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif was interviewed by Chinese media at the Prime Minister's Office in the capital Islamabad .
Pakistani Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif officially started his visit to China on November 1. Like General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Shabaz is one of the first foreign leaders invited to visit China after the successful conclusion of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It fully reflects the depth of the special friendly relations and strategic mutual trust between the two countries, and reflects the level of the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic partnership.
At the same time, Pakistan is a key country in jointly building the "Belt and Road" with China, a representative of in developing countries, and a bridge between China and the Islamic world. Shabaz was invited to visit China after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China successfully concluded, which is of great symbolic significance.
China and Pakistan support and cooperate closely in politics, security and strategy
At present, the world's major changes that have not been seen in a century have accelerated, and the international balance of power has been deeply adjusted. Although the trend of international pattern has not changed, the sanctions taken by some countries in the international system to maintain their hegemony status have been significantly increased. At the same time, the century-old epidemic has far-reaching impact, anti-globalization trends are rising, the world economy is recovering weakly, local conflicts and turmoil are frequent, global problems such as climate change are intensifying, and the world has entered a new period of turbulent and change. Against this background, the leaders of China and Pakistan have exchanged in-depth views on bilateral relations and regional and international issues of common concern, coordinated positions, sought consensus, and jointly planned and led the blueprint for the development of China-Pakistan relations, which is undoubtedly of special significance.
For the urgent need for peace and development in the vast majority of developing countries, the Chinese leaders have put forward global security initiatives and global development initiatives. A peaceful and stable international and regional order is a necessary prerequisite for achieving development. China and Pakistan have always supported and cooperated closely in politics, security and strategic aspects. They have common interests in maintaining peace, security and stability in South Asia and promoting the construction of regional security order.
Faced with profound changes in the international situation, the Pakistani government hopes to transform its diplomatic strategy from geopolitical to geoeconomic . China fully respects the geo-economic strategy formulated by the Pakistani government to maintain good relations with all countries, respects Pakistan's efforts to promote the recovery of US-Pakistan relations, and Pakistan's good intention to continue to act as a bridge between China and the United States. China also fully supports Pakistan's efforts to establish friendly relations with its neighboring countries on the basis of mutual respect and maintaining a spirit of cooperation, and to peacefully resolve all disputes, including Kashmir , through dialogue and diplomatic means based on the " United Nations Charter " and related resolutions.
Afghanistan problem is still a regional hot topic. Since the hasty withdrawal of the US military in August last year and the Taliban of Afghanistan re-control of Kabul, China and Pakistan have played an important role in preventing the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, promoting the reconciliation of Afghan ethnic , and maintaining regional stability. On the basis of the mechanism of the Foreign Ministers' Meeting of Afghan neighboring countries, the security order in Afghanistan and its surrounding areas has been initially established. Of course, this order is still quite fragile. China and Pakistan and other Afghan neighbors need to continue to work to prevent individual countries from supporting Afghan internal forces in Afghanistan to re-provoke a proxy war in Afghanistan and disrupt the regional situation.
htmlOn October 24, people took the Orange Line Metro in Lahore, Pakistan, which was built by a Chinese company. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a "Belt and Road" demonstration project
Economic cooperation including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is an important part of China-Pakistan relations. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a flagship project and demonstration project of the "Belt and Road". Since the proposed corridor construction in 2013, the two sides have planned 73 projects, of which 47 have started construction or completed, with a total investment of more than US$25 billion, directly creating 150,000 jobs for Pakistan and achieving important early harvest goals.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister After Imran Khan came to power, he proposed that the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor be tilted towards people's livelihood and social fields.A large number of "small and beautiful" people-friendly projects have been implemented, including hospitals, schools, wells and some agricultural projects, which have effectively benefited the local people. Now, the construction of the corridor has entered the second stage of high-quality development, and has expanded from the original four key areas of Gwadar Port, energy, transportation infrastructure and industrial park to new areas such as social livelihood, agriculture, science and technology and international cooperation. The construction of the corridor has shown vigorous vitality, strong resilience and broad prospects.
In the first phase of the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, when Shabaz served as chief minister in Punjab , he made significant contributions to the successful completion of many key energy and transportation projects in the corridor construction. Now, under his leadership, the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has become the highest priority of Pakistan's country. At the 11th meeting of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Joint Cooperation Committee held on October 27, China and Pakistan reached many consensuses: to launch the ML-1 railway trunk line project costing about US$10 billion from Karachi to Peshawar ; to promote the completion of 3,100 MW of power generation projects (700 MW of Azad Patan project, 1,124 MW of Kohara project, and 1,320 MW of Thar coal project) as soon as possible; to jointly build a highway project of about 888 kilometers, and conduct detailed discussions on the Karachi Circular Railway project. By further promoting the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Shabaz hopes that Pakistan can become a manufacturing base and an extension of China's industrial and supply chain network.
China is also looking forward to cooperation with Pakistan, taking this visit as an opportunity to further promote bilateral relations, promote the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and build a closer China-Pakistan Community of Shared Future . But for Pakistan, it still faces some major challenges: first of all, domestic security challenges. In the past few years, Chinese citizens have frequently encountered terrorist attacks in Pakistan, which has had a serious impact on bilateral relations and the confidence of Chinese investors. Pakistan attaches great importance to the security issues of Chinese people in Pakistan and has taken many measures, but the two sides still need further cooperation, especially joint security actions. The second is the political stability challenge of Pakistan. Shabaz is very familiar with China's growth path and development experience over the past few decades, and national political stability is the prerequisite for achieving development. On major policies and guidelines involving national development, Pakistani political parties should form a consensus that the overall development of the country should not be hindered by political differences and local interests disputes, nor should they disturb national stability due to political differences.
Author: Liu Zongyi (Secretary-General of the China-South Asia Cooperation Research Center of Shanghai Institute of International Studies)
Editor: Liu Chang
Picture: Xinhua News Agency
