By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told the Senate on Wednesday that Islamabad and Beijing share a “converging vision” on regional and global issues, as a high-level Chinese delegation sat in the visitors’ gallery to observe commemorations of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Dar, addressing the upper house of Parliament, said the relationship is one that has “grown from strength to strength into a robust economic and strategic partnership” over the past seven-and-a-half decades. “From the Karakoram Highway to Gwadar Port, the symbols of Pak-China friendship are spread all across Pakistan’s geography,” he said.
The remarks came as Pakistan’s National Assembly and Senate both passed resolutions commemorating the milestone, reaffirming what officials on both sides routinely describe as an “iron-clad” friendship built on mutual trust, respect for sovereignty and shared interests. A Chinese delegation led by Cai Dafeng, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress, arrived in Islamabad earlier in the day and was received by National Assembly Deputy Speaker Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah and MNA Romina Khurshid Alam, convener of the Pakistan-China Parliamentary Friendship Group. The delegation is scheduled to remain in the capital through Thursday.
Dar used the occasion to outline an ambitious agenda for the coming days. He said he would accompany Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on a state visit to China from May 23 to 26, during which the two leaders will attend anniversary celebrations and hold talks with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. The itinerary also includes business-to-business meetings and sessions of two key bilateral mechanisms: the Pakistan-China Political Forum and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Joint Consultative Mechanism. A large multiparty parliamentary delegation from Pakistan will participate in many of the events.
The foreign minister highlighted joint diplomatic efforts on pressing international issues. He noted that Pakistan and China have worked closely at the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and other forums “in defending the interests of developing countries and promoting global peace.” Both governments, he said, remain “committed to upholding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter in a world facing complex challenges.”
Dar also pointed to a joint initiative aimed at promoting peace and stability in the Gulf and the Middle East, describing it as a reflection of the two countries’ “shared sense of responsibility as peace-loving nations.” He recalled his own visit to China in late March, when the two sides formulated a five-point peace plan for the Middle East conflict that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. “We came up with a five-point initiative for a peace plan in the conflict, and this has been accepted and endorsed by dozens of countries on the globe,” Dar said. He added that he had remained in “constant touch” with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other regional counterparts throughout the crisis.
Central to the bilateral relationship is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which Dar called “a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative and a shining example of shared vision for regional connectivity and prosperity.” He said CPEC had already transformed Pakistan’s economic landscape by helping overcome chronic power shortages. Recalling Chinese assistance in 2013, Dar said, “China gave massive support in eliminating the outages and loadshedding in Pakistan. We will always remain grateful to China.”
The resolutions adopted by both houses of Parliament were nearly identical in tone and substance. The Senate version, presented by Dar, recalled “the historic, time-tested and iron-clad friendship between Pakistan and China, a friendship that has been nurtured through the hard work and wisdom of successive generations of leadership and the enduring goodwill of the peoples of both countries.” It recognized the relationship as one based on “mutual trust and respect, shared aspirations, and an abiding commitment to peace, stability, development and prosperity” that “has withstood all tests of time irrespective of changing international environment.”
The upper house expressed appreciation for China’s “unyielding support” to Pakistan on core national interests, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security. In turn, Pakistan reaffirmed its support for China on issues of core concern, including “firm commitment to the one-China principle” and the position that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory.” The resolution also voiced firm Pakistani backing for Beijing on matters related to Xinjiang, Xizang, Hong Kong and the South China Sea.
Both chambers welcomed growing parliamentary exchanges and pledged to strengthen them “in the spirit of dialogue, understanding and cooperation for regional and global peace, stability and development.” They reaffirmed cooperation across political, economic, strategic, educational, cultural and people-to-people spheres and expressed full support for continued work on CPEC as a driver of “shared prosperity, mutual benefit and the socio-economic development of the peoples of both countries.” The Senate resolution concluded by committing Parliament to commemorate the anniversary “in a befitting and dignified manner” as “a symbol of enduring brotherhood, trusted partnership and ever-deepening cooperation” and to carry the relationship forward “from generation to generation.”
A similar resolution moved in the National Assembly by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry conveyed “heartfelt felicitations to the government and people of China” and reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to the “all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.” It also called for enhanced ties between Pakistan’s National Assembly and China’s National People’s Congress.
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