ISLAMABAD: China’s Ambassador to Pakistan, Sun Weidong said on Thursday that the internal changes in Pakistan could not affect Pakistan-China relationship as it was the top priority of Chinese diplomatic policy.
“I called on the new Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi recently and told him that the China-Pakistan relationship is time tested, and China believed that under his leadership, the Pakistani government will be committed to safeguarding national unity and stability and promoting economic and social stability”, he said while addressing a seminar here.
The Seminar titled “Pakistan-China Relations: CPEC and beyond” was organised by Institute of Policy Studies (IPS).
Sun Weidong said China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) had become the most important forum of the bilateral relationship. He informed that construction on CPEC projects was officially started in 2015 and now it had entered into the early harvest stage.
At the current stage, he said that 19 projects worth over $18 billion were under construction out of which 11 were related to energy sector.
He said keeping in view the energy crisis in Pakistan, the two countries decided to give priority to energy projects in a bid to give a boost to the economic development of the country.
The ambassador maintained that the Chinese entrepreneurs have employed over 60,000 Pakistani people under the umbrella of CPEC.
Moreover, he said the Chinese businessmen had also invested in Gwadar city in fish processing sector, and this move is helping the local fishermen and fisheries related businessmen to improve their lifestyles by earning more after adding value to the sea foods.
The envoy said that China wanted to see Pakistan a powerful and economically strong country, therefore, it was investing heavily in Pakistan to strengthen the country’s industrial and other sectors.
He said, “Our cooperation is not against any third country; however, it would be beneficial for the peace and prosperity of the whole region.”
Senate’s opposition leader Raja Zafarul Haq, who was also chief guest at the seminar, said that the CPEC was not confined to any particular part, and it was owned by the entire nation; therefore work on projects under the umbrella of CPEC would continue irrespective of the internal change in the country.
He maintained that the bilateral relationship was vital to the global peace and prosperity.
