BEIJING - The Chinese government as well as the Communist Party have taken a serious note of the negative propaganda unleashed by the Western and Indian media against the prospects of Pakistan-China Economic Corridor (CPEC). This reflected the nefarious designs of the American and Indian leadership.
This was stated here on Tuesday by Deputy Secretary General of the Communist Party and Director of State Council Information Ms Xi Yanchun while talking to a group of senior Pakistani editors and television anchors visiting China on an invitation of an organisation ‘Understanding China Better’. The delegation is headed by Dr Zaffaruddin Mahmood, a retired diplomat who spent two-third of his life in China.
Ms Xi Yanchun said: “We are fully aware of moves to create misgivings about CPEC with an objective to create serious doubts in the minds of Chinese and Pakistani people. No one would succeed to harm a mega project of this nature since there exists a mutual trust between the two neighbourly states whose bilateral relations were time-tested and spread well over five decades.”
She said efforts were under way to counter Indo-US sponsored negative campaign and let there be no doubt that both Pakistan and China were tied in strongest bonds of friendship. She agreed that leadership of both China and Pakistan should make CPEC such a transparent project that no one could cast any aspersions. She said she was aware of nasty and unfair remarks of the foreign print and electronic media terming China East India Company.
At this point her attention was drawn to the allegations that Pakistan would meet the same fate as Sri Lanka and Sudan. She promptly responded by saying that both Islamabad and Beijing must dispel such a harmful impression by making people aware of the actual situation.
Ms Xi said the government and the Communist Party had always regarded Pakistan as a strategic and reliable partner and they were keen to see it prosper economically. She said more and more interaction between the media and people at the grassroots level would benefit the two sides and the prevailing, if at all any, misperceptions would be buried automatically.
Ms Xi said there was a dire need to reactivate the existing forums between the two states for closer understanding and cement the already excellent relations. She added that media could play a pivotal role in bringing people even closer. For this purpose, she said, China would welcome such active forums that include Understanding China Better.
She said she would forward the proposal of making such delegations a permanent forum that could through publications, television programmes and short documentaries to enlighten people of existing mutual cooperation and could help formulate policies for greater good of the masses.
Replying to a question, Ms Xi said China was keen to help Pakistan in many ways that would lead to economic well-being of Pakistani people.
Earlier, at a routine daily briefing at the Foreign Office, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Pakistan and China were close strategic and economic partners and benefiting their people. “Our ties with Pakistan were symbolic and based on solid footings.”
Replying to another question, the spokesman said China was aware that Western and American media were engaged in trumpeting so-called Sino-US trade war. “We are not part of any such war. All we are doing is to protect our economic interests,” the spokesman said.
Spokesman Lu Kang said there will be more projects under the $60 billion CPEC project a day after he said the CPEC debt liabilities were low. “China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic partners. In recent years, our bilateral relations are operating at a high level,” Lu said, replying to question about the high-level visits planned between the two countries. “Going forward, we expect more high-level important exchanges and there will be more projects in the CPEC and practical cooperation in various fields,” he said.
Lu said Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have sent messages of congratulation respectively to President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan. The two prime ministers also held a telephone conversation. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Pakistan on the occasion of the establishment of the new government.
“We believe that with the concerted efforts of the two sides, the China-Pakistan relations will keep making progress,” Lu said.
Earlier, Director General of China Huaneng Group had a detailed meeting with the Pakistani media delegation and gave them a comprehensive briefing on the coal power plants installed in six countries: Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Australia, Singapore and Vietnam.
He said among 500 companies operating in energy sector, his Group stood at 204th position and was renowned for using the latest technology ensuring all the safeguards to save people from pollution. In China, he said, 70 per cent electricity was being generated through coal-based power plants.
“Even if coal was being termed as bad source for generating energy, all depends what kind of technology was being used. Wing and solar were old sources of generating of electricity because they are not stable sources,” the spokesman said.
In Pakistan, he said, wind and solar had not been useful means of power production that led to installation of coal based power plant in Sahiwal and added that plants were installed in areas where there was shortage of energy.
He said his company was sharing two per cent of its profit with the Punjab Government for the benefit of the local population for education and training of children who could not otherwise afford it. So far about five hundred children had been benefitted by this action plan.
He said the plants installed in Pakistan were of very high quality and similar plants were operating in China as well.
Replying to a question regarding his per unit price of electricity generated through coal power plants, he said it was the responsibility of the respective government to fix prices.
China vows to fight Indo-US propaganda against CPEC