Xi Jinping: CPEC Is A Sign Of ‘Ironclad’ Friendship Between China and Pakistan
According to Chinese President Xi Jinping, CPEC is a “vivid testament” to China and Pakistan’s “ironclad” relationship.
According to PTI, Jinping promised to strongly support Pakistan, the country’s all-weather partner.
He said that China would keep collaborating with Pakistan to strengthen their strategic relations.
His comments were made while the two nations were commemorating the 10th anniversary of the inception of the extensive CPEC infrastructure projects in Islamabad.
Earlier, a significant suicide bombing in the unrest-plagued Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province resulted in the deaths of over 50 people and the injuries of over 100 more.
He said that the Belt and Road Initiative’s (BRI) “important pioneering project” is the USD 60 billion CPEC infrastructure development.
India opposes the CPEC because it passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and links Gwadar Port in Balochistan, Pakistan, with Xinjiang, China.
He Lifeng, the vice premier of China, who is in Pakistan for three days, attended the occasion.
“China will cooperate with Pakistan to pursue high-standard, long-term, and livelihood-improving results,” Xi added. “We will also further transform the CPEC into an outstanding example of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.”
“Since its launch in 2013, China and Pakistan have been advancing CPEC under the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, and have achieved a number of early harvests,” he was cited as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
The CPEC, according to Xi, who is also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, has given Pakistan’s economic and social growth a fresh boost and built a solid platform for regional connectivity and integration.
According to him, the initiative is a “vivid testament to the all-weather friendship between China and Pakistan” and offers a crucial foundation for creating a community with a shared destiny for China and Pakistan in the new age.
No matter how the world environment may change, China will always stand solidly with Pakistan, Xi said, emphasizing that China and Pakistan would keep improving overall planning and expanding and deepening cooperation.
“China and Pakistan will continue to work hand in hand and forge ahead in solidarity to carry forward the ironclad friendship, coordinate development, and ensure security,” said Xi, who is also the general secretary of the country’s governing Communist Party of China.
In order to further contribute to peace and prosperity in the two nations as well as the wider region, he said the two nations will “pursue the cooperation of higher standards, broader scope and greater depth” and “take the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership to new heights.”
The main agreement for the CPEC projects was reached in 2013, but President Xi Jinping’s 2015 visit to Pakistan marked its official debut.
Chinese President Xi introduced the BRI in 2013. With a network of land and water routes, it seeks to connect Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Gulf area, Africa, and Europe.
With infrastructure projects throughout the globe financed by Chinese money, the BRI is seen as an effort by China to increase its influence overseas.
After Sri Lanka awarded China a 99-year lease on its Hambantota port as part of a debt exchange in 2017, claims that smaller nations are struggling under rising Chinese debt arose as a result of the project.
