By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday pledged to provide Chinese nationals in Pakistan with security equivalent to that afforded the country’s own president and prime minister, as Islamabad and Beijing marked the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations with ceremonies that blended celebration and pointed assurances amid persistent militant threats.
Addressing a joint event at the Pakistan-China Friendship Centre, Sharif said the government considers the protection of Chinese nationals “a matter of paramount importance” and will “spare no effort” to provide the highest level of security. “Every Chinese national should be provided the level of security that President Asif Ali Zardari and the prime minister are provided in Pakistan,” he said, adding that Islamabad would also deepen counterterrorism cooperation with Beijing.
The emphasis on security was not rhetorical. Chinese infrastructure sites and workers in Pakistan have faced repeated attacks, particularly from ethnic Baloch militant groups in southwestern Balochistan, where much of the CPEC investment is concentrated. Beijing has pledged more than $60 billion for the corridor, which links Pakistan’s Gwadar Port to China’s Xinjiang region through a network of roads, railways, energy projects and special economic zones.
Violence has repeatedly delayed CPEC work. Among the deadliest incidents were a 2021 bus bombing in Dasu in northwest Pakistan that killed 13 people, nine of them Chinese; a March 2024 suicide attack near a dam project in which five Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver died; and a 2024 suicide bombing outside Karachi airport that killed two Chinese engineers. Islamabad has responded by deploying special protection units, but the attacks — often framed by militants as resistance to Chinese investment in Balochistan — have continued to strain the partnership.
Sharif described Beijing’s support for Pakistan as “steadfast” and “unwavering,” a partnership he said had no parallel in history. “Earthquakes, floods, peace and difficult times — China has always supported Pakistan in an unwavering fashion,” he said. Pakistan, he noted, was the first Muslim country and one of the first in the world to recognize the People’s Republic of China when diplomatic ties were formally established on May 21, 1951.
The prime minister, who is scheduled to visit China from May 23 to 26, reaffirmed Islamabad’s unqualified backing for Beijing’s “One China” policy “without fear or favour” and cast the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor — the flagship project of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative — as “a great manifestation” of China’s commitment to Pakistan’s economic development, job creation and prosperity.
Sharif also thanked China for “fully supporting” Pakistan’s recent peace initiative aimed at facilitating talks between the United States and Iran. “There has been a history of supporting each other without political strings or conditions,” he said. “China has been a steadfast and trusted friend of Pakistan.”
The ceremony brought together President Asif Ali Zardari, Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gillani, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and other senior Pakistani officials. Representing the Chinese side was Cai Dafeng, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress.
Zardari, who has visited China 14 times — including twice last year — said the relationship is an “all-weather, unique strategic cooperation” rooted in mutual respect and shared aspirations. Friendship with China, he said, is a cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy that enjoys “total public, political and institutional support” and continuity across generations.
He singled out the Gwadar Port project and the broader CPEC as transformative for Pakistan’s socio-economic progress, while paying tribute to Xi’s leadership in lifting hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty. Zardari and the Chinese delegation jointly unveiled a commemorative postage stamp marking the anniversary.
Cai, speaking on behalf of the Chinese leadership, echoed the theme of an enduring bond forged through “mutual understanding, affinity and integration.” He recalled that Pakistan was the first Islamic country to establish diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic and said the two nations had “stayed true to our original aspiration” despite a changing international landscape. The partnership, he added, had been elevated to an “all-weather strategic cooperative partnership” during Xi’s 2015 visit to Pakistan and further strengthened in 2018 with an agreement to build “an even closer community with a shared future for a new era.”
Both countries, Cai said, now shoulder “the historic task of national rejuvenation.” He pledged that Beijing would work with Islamabad on “CPEC 2.0,” expanding cooperation beyond traditional infrastructure into agriculture, mining, industry, information technology, digital technology, science and technology, the oceans, green development and climate change. China, he added, “firmly supports Pakistan in safeguarding its national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national dignity” and stands ready to strengthen counterterrorism cooperation.
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