Source: Pakistan Today    Published: 2023-11-13

ISLAMABAD: Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong on Monday said President Xi Jinping’s eight major steps outlined at the 3rd Belt and Road Forum have offered new opportunities for developing countries.

Addressing the audience of an event titled “China’s diplomacy with neighbouring countries”  under the framework of the “Dosti Park Club” here, the envoy highlighted the far-reaching impact of Chinese organisational practices on developing nations, catalysing their robust development.

Giving an overview of the Chinese modernisation and diplomacy, the ambassador highlighted the significance of the practices in instilling hope and confidence, especially among countries aspiring to a shared future.

He lauded China’s accomplishments under President Xi’s leadership, particularly the noteworthy achievement of lifting 800 million people out of poverty, surpassing the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals by a decade.

As regards the ongoing discussions on China’s modernization, Ambassador Zaidong reiterated his nation’s commitment to achieving the common prosperity of all Chinese citizens and improving the lives of ordinary people.

Shifting focus to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the ambassador highlighted its early harvest, citing impressive figures such as $25.4 billion in direct investment and jobs creation for 236,000 individuals.

Highlighting CPEC’s impact on infrastructure development, he noted the completion of 510 kilometers of highways, and build 886 kilometers of national core transmission grid, and 8,020 megawatts of electricity projects. CPEC would further improve the lives of Pakistan’s people and the new international airport at Gwadar would also be functional soon, he added.

“We are also bringing benefits for people in Balochistan including 10,000 solar panels,” he said and added that the figures showed tangible benefits for local communities, significantly boosting Pakistan’s economic and social development.

Expressing optimism about CPEC’s positive outcomes, particularly in alleviating Pakistan’s electricity shortages and enhancing local commutes through projects like the Orange Line in Lahore, Ambassador Zaidong remarked, “CPEC truly demonstrates that Chinese people are dedicated to bringing tangible benefits to local communities and aiding Pakistan in achieving superior development”.

Proposing three key collaboration points for the future—consolidation, deepening existing projects, and continuous improvement, the ambassador highlighted the importance of building upon successful initiatives like ML-1 and KKH rerouting projects.

Anticipating new developments, he announced a delegation from Xinjiang province aiming to promote cooperation in agriculture, demonstrate agricultural zones, and propose counterpart cooperation in Special Economic Zones (SEZs). The ambassador expressed willingness to enhance collaboration in the mining sector, reinforcing the commitment to strengthening bilateral ties and contributing to Pakistan’s sustained development.

Prof Victor Gao, Chairman of China Energy Security Institute said that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) would be AI-integrated finally and it would be greener, smarter and more integrated.

Outrightly rejecting India-Middle East-EU Economic Corridor (IMEEC) as an alternate to the BRI, Prof Gao said that the IMEEC is a political move in nature and is impractical on ground.

Prof Victor Gao said that Pakistan played a key role in bringing about a breakthrough in diplomatic ties of US and China in 1971 by secretly flowing the then US secretary of state Henry Kissinger into China which paved the way for US-China relations.

“So today we can say that Pakistan had laid the foundation of Sino-US diplomatic relations and this proved to be the foundation of President Xi’s meeting with President Biden in San Francisco soon,” he said.

He also rejected the possibility of a war between China and US, saying that the argument is based on fallacy as both the world’s biggest nuclear powers are equipped to the teeth and any war may ignite world war-III.

“So I believe that peace between US and China is inevitable. China and US need to live peacefully as equals and both need to benefit each other. Both the countries need to solve their issues peacefully,” he said.

Prof Gao said that efforts to contain China had failed and China today has emerged a dominant EV cars producer globally.

“We are following the idea of CPC General Secretary Deng Xiaopeng who always stressed for development, development and development. Within past four decades, China has developed into world’s second largest economy – thanks to stability, peace and development which go hand in hand. Pakistan should follow and maintain peace and focus development. In the new era, Pakistan would have to at least have three things, including data generation, semiconductors, etc,” he added.

He said China’s Indo-Pacific strategy includes Pakistan but US Indo-Pacific strategy excludes China and Pakistan.

“So the US is planning to isolate China and Pakistan. Huawei has achieved self sufficiency in producing semiconductors. Algorithm is another field to be focused on. We need to think about CPEC 2.0. China and Pakistan needs to leverage on each other. Pakistan needs to address the underlying factors which are cause of instability.”

Prof Liu Ying of Renmin University said that China would speed up high quality development of China, Europe Corridor linked by railway, maritime and road network. Prof Tim also spoke on the occasion.