LAHORE   -  In China, the expression ‘ba-tie’ (iron brother) is only re­served for Pakistan. As we in Pakistan consider it higher than the mountains, deeper than the oceans, sweeter than honey. 

Indeed, Pakistan takes pride in its special friendship with China which is time-tested and timeless. Pakistani Ambassa­dor to China in Beijing, Moin ul Haque said this while talking to The Nation and Nawa-i-Waqt.

It transcends the normal pre­cepts of interstate relationship having assumed a uniqueness of its own kind. Our relations with China are based on strong politi­cal support, strategic trust and practical cooperation. A heart-to-heart relationship between our two peoples enjoying sup­port across political spectrum. 

No wonder, this friendship remains the cornerstone of our foreign policy, He said. Ambassa­dor said that China has recently lifted its Covid-related travel restrictions and opened up in­ternational travel. This naturally has a positive impact on various sectors of the Chinese economy, including trade and tourism. The re-opening has resulted in en­hanced bilateral interaction be­tween our two countries. 

Many high-level visits took place in last few months. Only last month, Chinese Foreign Min­ister Qin Gang was in Pakistan for the Strategic Dialogue, He said. We had visits from Plan­ning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Foreign Secretary Dr Asad Ma­jeed Khan. We also had a number of delegations from the defence side, including the Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Naval Staff. As China-Pakistan celebrate the Year of Tourism Exchanges this year, our both countries are look­ing forward to enhance cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

Talking about ML-1 , he said , in line with the leadership con­sensus, the relevant institutions from both sides are making earnest efforts to finalize all ar­rangements and launch the proj­ect during this year. 

During the recent visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to China in November 2022, the leadership of the two countries agreed to ad­vance the process of ear­liest implementation of ML-1 project. JCC takes stock of CPEC projects and endorses the work­ings of its subordinate technical Joint Working Groups (JWGs). The two sides are making ar­rangements to hold the 12th session this year, which also marks a de­cade of the lunch of CPEC. Many important projects in the fields of energy, transport, infrastructure, industry, agriculture and IT would be discussed and finalized during these meet­ings, he added. Moin ul Haque said that our two countries also have a robust trade and invest­ment cooperation, which is very essential for Pakistan’s economy. As our largest trading partner, China is a major export market for Pakistani products, and we are working together to further enhance the access of Pakistani products to untapped sectors of the Chinese markets. During the Covid-19 pandemic, China pro­vided us critical support espe­cially in supplying over 160 mil­lion vaccine doses which were the mainstay of our inoculation drive. China was the top country in providing generous assistance after unprecedented floods of last year. Talking about Paki­stani students , he said, China is a popular and the largest destina­tion for Pakistani students. The pre-Covid figure stands at 28,000 students enrolled all across Chi­na in various disciplines, includ­ing medicine, engineering, IT, science, humanities, and modern arts, among others. 

After the lifting of Covid-relat­ed travel restrictions, students already enrolled in different disciplines have started com­ing back to resume on-campus classes along with new entrants. Talking about his professional career, he said , I have had a ca­reer spanning more than three and a half decades in the foreign service of Pakistan. 

During this time, I had a num­ber of assignments at the head­quarters and at the Missions abroad. Before my appointment to China in August 2020, I was serving as Pakistan’s Ambas­sador to France. When I landed here, face-to-face interactions with the community was a bit difficult because of Covid. 

However, this did not stop us for keeping regular engagement with them through online meet­ings and launching various ini­tiatives for the community.

The first priority was to be­gin the repatriation of Pakistani students to China, who had been stranded because of closing of borders and the across-the-board restrictions on traveling of international students back to China. Pakistan was among the first few countries whose students returned to China after Covid, he said.

Another key objective was to ensure community’s enhanced access to the embassy, for which we introduced a digital registra­tion system. We also launched a dedicated professionals forum, an important platform for the Pakistani professionals to en­gage, discuss and give sugges­tions for enhanced cooperation between China and Pakistan. Thirdly, we launched an online portal for Pakistani students and professionals, where they can connect, share their achieve­ments, experiences and network for their job hunt in China and Pakistan. The students and as­piring professionals can share their CVs and find potential em­ployment opportunities. During my almost three years in China, serving the Pakistani commu­nity has been a privileged and a priority. I firmly believes that overseas Pakistanis, who are our assets hardworking, vibrant and patriotic and play a key role as Pakistan’s ambassador in promoting its interests and strengthening relationship with the host countries. To further bolster our people-to-people ties, China and Pakistan decided to celebrate 2023 as China-Paki­stan Year of Tourism Exchanges. In this year, both our sides would be carrying on a series of activi­ties to celebrate our friendship, raise awareness about each oth­er’s tourism potential and wel­come tourists from each other’s countries. We have increased the visibility of Pakistani tourist landscapes on the Chinese social media platforms with targeted marketing companies.