Pakistan, China in talks about security for Chinese nationals

Pakistan and China’s discussions about security measures to protect Chinese nationals working in the South Asian country are a work in progress, Islamabad’s ambassador to Beijing said on Wednesday.

The two countries have had close ties underpinned by long-standing wariness of their common neighbour, India, and a desire to hedge against US influence across the region.

Chinese investment and financial support for Pakistan since 2013 have been a boon for its struggling economy. China has thousands of nationals working on projects grouped under CPEC.

The $65-billion investment is part of President Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative, designed to Beijing’s global reach by road, rail and sea.

Militants who target Chinese nationals seek to undermine Pakistan-China relations, spread terrorism, destabilise Pakistan’s security and economy and achieve financial gains.

It is Pakistan’s “national responsibility” and the country is “doing everything possible”, Ambassador Khalil Hashmi told reporters at the sidelines of the Boao Forum in China’s Hainan province.

“I think our two countries work very closely in terms of information sharing, in terms of developing the standard operating procedures” to ensure Chinese nationals working in Pakistan are safe, he said.

“We keep our Chinese friends informed of the steps that we are taking, so it’s a work in progress.”

Hashmi said those talks are ongoing, with a high degree of trust between both countries.

“It’s a complex security environment,” he said. “We have the capability to resolve, to counter and combat and defeat these terrorist forces.”

Beijing has been pushing Pakistan to allow its own security staff to provide protection to thousands of Chinese citizens working there, frustrated by the string of attacks on its citizens.

The push came after a bombing at the Karachi airport last October killed two Chinese engineers who were returning there to work at a power plant.

Last month, Pakistan and China agreed to strengthen their bilateral cooperation in counter-terrorism activities, reiterating that any attempt to undermine or disrupt their ties was bound to fail, the Foreign Office (FO) had said.

They had also agreed to upgrade cooperation in various other sectors such as defence, agriculture and information technology. The bilateral ties and cooperation were discussed as President Asif Ali Zardari met Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress Zhao Leji during his visit to China.

A joint statement issued by the FO on the discussions and agreements reached during the visit said: “The Pakistani side reiterated its strongest condemnation of the terrorist attacks in Pakistan involving Chinese personnel.”

The country reaffirmed that ensuring the safety and security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan is the foremost responsibility of the its government as China’s all-weather strategic cooperative partner and the host country.