BEIJING: The top priority of Chinese government is to increase people-to-people contacts between Pakistan and China, a senior Chinese official said on Wednesday.
Talking to a 15-member delegation of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) in Beijing, Chen Feng, director of South Asia division at Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Pakistan government is taking steps to improve the security of Chinese engineers and diplomats in the country.
“But more can be done,” he said, and added that “we hope things improve”.
The Chinese official expressed satisfaction at the pace of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and said that the project was progressing satisfactorily.
Talking about Afghanistan, Chen said that trilateral efforts for bringing peace in Afghanistan could not succeed because the security situation in Afghanistan was not conducive. He added that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani should give a broad roadmap in this regard.
He also said that China is engaged with the members of the quadrilateral group on Afghanistan, adding that it is trying to improve the situation in Afghanistan and border management is under discussion with stakeholders.
He stressed that “peace in Afghanistan is must for progress”.
The Chinese official further informed that China was continuously vetoing the Indian ban on Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar at the United Nations due to a lack of consensus. He clarified that the BRICS summit discussed only banned organisations and not individuals.
“We are promoters of peace and want Pakistan and India to resolve their disputes through negotiations as it is imperative for peace in the region,” he said.