Editorial
Reviewing with satisfaction the historical development of China-Pakistan relations and the great strides made, early this month, Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Beijing. He met with President Xi Jinping and held talks with Premier Li Keqiang. He has also met with Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, and Wang Qishan, Vice President of China respectively.
Apart from high-level engagement in Beijing, the Pakistani delegation visited Shanghai as well to attend the largest first China International Import Expo. During the meetings, both sides reiterated that the friendship between Pakistan and China has withstood the test of time, notwithstanding the changes in domestic, regional, and international environments.
The two sides agreed to further strengthen the China-Pakistan All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership, and build a closer China-Pakistan Community of Shared Future in the new era in line with the principles set forth by the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Good-neighborly Relations between the People’s Republic of China and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has also assured the resolve and commitment to developing bilateral relations as well as the CPEC projects. Since its inception, CPEC, with its game and faith-changing dimension has also attracted the enemies of Pakistan and China friendship and their evil wish is to sabotage CPEC as much as possible.
Any attempt to undermine the friendship between China and Pakistan is doomed to fail. Recent terrorist attacks on the Chinese consulate are among such attacks. These incidents have further cemented the resolve from both China and Pakistan to continue working together in close collaboration no matter what happens and comes what may.
One heartwarming sign is that while writing these lines, Chinese people have raised huge amounts of funds for the martyred security personnel during the attack while the young female officer, who has spearheaded the operation, has been considered as the Chinese hero and a savior.
It is now a continued reality that incidents of such kind will never ever undermine the relations built on mightier than the Himalayas and deeper than the Arabian Sea. China Pakistan relations have seen the test of times and every time when a challenge arises, the resolve becomes further rock solid.
The incidents also happen at a time when the Prime Minister of Pakistan arrived back after the successful completion of his visit to China while the China Pakistan Economic Corridor is in full swing with steady movement in the next phase of development of its projects.
Throughout the history of relations, China has always supported Pakistan in the best possible manner with continuous assistance in difficult times. While Pakistan, despite its challenges of varied nature, has always proved to be the Iron brother and close partner with China.
Apart from visits to the People’s Republic of China, Prime Minister Khan also visited Malaysia for two days wherein both sides were able to sign Malaysia-Pakistan Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (MPCEPA) hence reducing or eliminating tariffs on their respective industrial agricultural products.
During the visit, Prime Minister Khan also met with his counterpart Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and held high-level discussions on all spheres of the relations to take measures to further enhance cooperation and improve the bilateral ties. One of the prime objectives of the visit was to enhance the bilateral exchanges at a high level.
Pakistan has also put forward a willingness to join ASEAN as the dialogue partner. With that, the two countries are set to enhance their mutual defense cooperation. Both sides looked forward to the 13th Joint Committee on Defence Cooperation (JCDC) which will be convened in 2019 in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia invited Pakistan to participate in the upcoming Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) in 2019.
Pakistan also welcomed Malaysia’s participation in the upcoming Defence Expo IDEAS- 2018. Malaysia is one of the seven Asian economic tigers amongst the ASEAN countries and is a great success story for development and democracy.
The country has transformed from an agricultural community to an exporter of industrial products and goods. As a result of the visionary policies of the government of Malaysia, poverty has reduced down from 70 percent to five percent.
Turkmenistan is celebrating the second anniversary of the recognition of the world of its Positive Neutrality posture as 12 December has been declared as International Day of Neutrality. This resolution also proposes that UN Secretary-General continue to cooperate closely with the neutral states, with a view to implementing the principles of preventive diplomacy and utilizing them in the mediation activities.
The day of the proclamation of neutrality by Turkmenistan is being celebrated as an important occasion and second most significant event after Independence Day of Turkmenistan. The role of the government of Turkmenistan is laudable for its outreach to the region for sharing of resources and smiles with the neighboring countries hence having stabilizing and reconciliatory effect over the regional conflicts including Afghanistan.
