Pakistan Ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque said on Tuesday that the relationship between Pakistan and China is a factor of stability in the region and beyond and both the countries promote friendly neighbourly ties for development of the two people.
“Regional peace is important for the development of our people, so that’s why we promote friendly neighborly ties in our region,” he said in an interview with Global Times. Evaluating relations between the two countries over the past seven decades, he said
Pakistan-China relations are very unique and special. “Over the past seven decades, the two countries have formed a close and friendly brotherhood. Today we are strategic partners and cooperate in almost every field. This year is a milestone in our relationship as we are celebrating 70 years of the establishment of diplomatic ties.”
He said that bilateral ties enjoy support at the highest level and have been nurtured over the years by successive generations of leadership and people of the two countries, adding, “This is the essence of our strong ties. We hope that in the next 70 years, we will take this relationship to even greater heights.”
To a question on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said that there are detractors of both Pakistan and China and they obviously don’t like this friendship.
“There are countries which do not like the peaceful rise of China, so there will always be these critics and voices. But we are not worried about that because the China-Pakistan friendship is rock solid,” he added.
He said that CPEC constitutes an important element of economic and investment cooperation between two countries. “For us, it’s a project which has transformed Pakistan’s landscape. Few days back, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi had a meeting with the Ambassador Nong Rong in which he reaffirmed our commitment to CPEC and assured that Pakistan would make all efforts necessary for the timely completion of all projects.”
Ambassador Haque said that Pakistan-China relationship is not directed against a third country and added, “Pakistan is part of South Asia and we always strive to have good relationships with all countries of South Asia. Our neighborhood policy is based on the philosophy of co-existence with all our neighbors peacefully. This is also China’s approach.”
Regarding a question about Communist Party of China (CPC) centenary celebration, he congratulated the people of China and the CPC for achieving the historic milestone of 100 years of the CPC.
He said that the Party has played a key role in China’s development, starting from its liberation to poverty alleviation, which is a miracle. It is a historic feat by the CPC to lift almost 800 million people out of poverty.
He noted that CPC’s policies are people-centric and aimed at the wellbeing of the people of China. “We are also grateful to the CPC for its strong support to China-Pakistan friendship.”
He said, China’s rise is peaceful. Its international relations are based on mutual respect and cooperation. China always supports multilateralism, international cooperation, and solidarity. “We take pride in our relationship with China which is based on warm sentiments and shared values.” On efforts made by Pakistan to prevent cross-border transmission of the COVID-19, he said that pandemic has affected all the countries in the world. Pakistan was no exception. The government took very prudent and timely measures not only to protect lives and control the spread of the virus but also to ensure economic stability in Pakistan.
“We have been able to control the virus and the situation is stable now. The next challenge is to vaccinate the majority of the population of our country,” he added.
Ambassador Haque informed us that the vaccination campaign has started in Pakistan for which we are grateful to China for its support. “China helped Pakistan during our difficult times by providing essential relief goods. Now it has provided us with vaccines. The overwhelming majority of vaccines being used in Pakistan are Chinese made.”
He said that Pakistan has strict border control to prevent the spread of the disease in Pakistan from neighboring countries. “We are confident that we can control the spread of the virus.” About safety and efficiency of Chinese vaccines, he said that three Chinese COVID-19 vaccines have been registered in Pakistan for use. “If there had been any concern, we would not have registered them. They are very safe and effective.”
He said that Pakistani population is being vaccinated in large numbers by these vaccines. I have also been vaccinated by Chinese vaccines and suffered no side effects. “So we are very satisfied with Chinese vaccines.”
He said that to address this unprecedented health crisis, there is a need to work together. “We need international cooperation and it’s not time for blame games or the politicization of global pandemic. We call on all the countries to work together to address this challenge.”
He said that the policy of China is to make COVID-19 vaccines a public good. It provides vaccines to a large number of countries, especially the developing ones. In fact, Pakistan was the first country to receive vaccine donations from China. “So we appreciate the role China is playing. The Chinese vaccines are saving lives around the world.”
“We are very happy to partner with CanSino [which has achieved local production in Pakistan]. They have conducted Phase-III trials in Pakistan and also set up their facility in Pakistan. As we move forward, we will upgrade our facility to produce domestic vaccines in Pakistan with the help of Chinese companies,” he said.
About his visit to Xinjiang, he said, “We have very close ties with Xinjiang because it borders Pakistan. There have been historic cultural and trade linkages between our two regions. Xinjiang is a beautiful province and very diverse. I was impressed by the social harmony and preservation and promotion of the local intangible culture in Xinjiang. The level of development in the region was also impressive.”
“We visited many mosques. We could see the focus being paid by the Chinese government on religious harmony and freedom, as well as on the protection of religious sites. That was quite remarkable,” he said.
Regarding the role of China in the Afghan peace process, he said, “We recently had a trilateral meeting among the foreign ministers of China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. It was a successful meeting and all three foreign ministers agreed on the importance of bringing peace and stability back to Afghanistan. We all want Afghanistan to stabilize as soon as possible so that people of Pakistan can live a happy and peaceful life.”
He said that as the US forces withdraw from Afghanistan, there will be more responsibility on the government of Afghanistan and on the regional countries to cooperate to address the menace of terrorism.
China is already playing a very important role in trilateral cooperation. It did not only promote the peace process but also contributed to the development and reconstruction of Afghanistan. China is a friend of Afghanistan and working with the Afghan government to ensure that the peace process is successful. It is also providing essential assistance and aid to the government of Afghanistan, he added.
