Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari led a high-level PPP delegation at International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) to be held in the Chinese town of Nanning. This is Bilawal’s third visit to China and second in his capacity as Chairman PPP.
The PPP delegation includes senior politicians, including PPP Secretary General Jahangir Badar; Governor Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Barrister Masood Kausar and MNA Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. Hashaam Riaz Sheikh, Special Assistant to the PPP Chairman was also included in the delegation. Addressing the conference, Bilawal said, “My country lies wounded as a victim of terror. We don’t lack the will. We lack the means. We are neither complicit nor are we incompetent. We lack capacity to face the world’s enemies on our own”.
Reiterating PPP policy, he said that military means alone were not enough to fight militancy. He said drones, raids and unilateral actions were not the answer. Dialogue, deterrence, development and democracy is the only roadmap to peace”.
He said Asia’s transformed role in the global level meant we could be witnessing the birth of a new world order. Bilawal said Asian countries should to set up an Asian Monetary Fund, strengthen economic cooperation and take steps to guard against future financial crises. He also voiced strong support for China and lamented the tendency among some to demonize emerging Asian economic superpowers like China and called it `the fear factor’. The PPP Chairman during his visit also held a meeting with Wang Jiarui, Minister of the International Department of Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.
He recalled his earlier meeting with Chairman Bilawal in 2008 and before that with Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed and welcomed the third generation of PPP leadership’s close friendship with their Chinese counterparts. The Chairman PPP also met Jose De Venecia, Founding Chairman and Co-Chairman of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) and former speaker of the House of Representatives of Philippines.