2023.05.06
On May 5th, the Grandview Institution (GVI) and Naseem Khan Achakzai, Advisor to the Speaker of the Baluchistan Parliament held a youth salon and symposium titled the Current and Future Developmental Status of Sino-Pakistani Cooperation. The salon was attended by Ren Libo, President of the GVI, He An, Secretary-General of the GVI. They had an in-depth discussion pertaining to Sino-Pakistani joint anti-terrorism effort, Sino-Pakistani-Indian trilateral relations, and the establishment of a branch of GVI in Islamabad, Pakistan. In addition, they also discussed about Sino-Pakistani academic and cultural exchange with young scholars from China, and students from Chinese universities.
The Pakistani government established the China-Pakistan Economic Committee in 2018, the purpose of which is to solve the problem of inter-ministerial coordination relating to CPEC, ensuring the completion of CPEC projects in a timely manner, and studying specific implementation measures for the long-term planning of CPEC. Naseem points out, all Pakistani provinces and localities wants CPEC to be constructed, and are willing to provide faster and more efficient security support to CPEC.
Recently, Pakistan will also update the urban monitoring system in the “Safe City” plan launched in 2016 in order to strengthen the security of citizens in cities such as Islamabad and Karachi. Pakistan has also set up special channels for Chinese citizens at airports in major Pakistani cities in order to better ensure their safety. Furthermore, Naseem believes that the Pakistani needs to step up their effort to eradicate the Tehrik-e Taliban (TTP) or Pakistani Taliban in order to better protect Chinese citizens and Chinese companies in Pakistan and to consolidate Sino-Pakistani relations. Regarding the issue of neighbouring countries, Naseem believes that the healthy development of Sino-Indian relations will help ease Indian-Pakistani relations. Pakistan and India need to make good use of platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisaion founded by China to build consensus on regional issues, so that countries can resolve their differences and cooperate with each other.
Naseem also pointed out that diplomats and media from Western countries are very concerned about China’s activities in Pakistan. These Western media tend to exaggerate and distort the problems China is facing. Consequently, the young people participating in the discussion that China and Pakistan not only need to build an economic corridor but also a “cultural corridor” and “information corridor” via various activities such as cultural exchange, cultural exchange, media and other mediums. It is hoped that through soft power, China can cement the friendship between Chinese and Pakistani people, and improve China’s image in Pakistan even further.