The Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China H.E. Mr. Yao Jing was invited for a round table discussion on “Pakistan-China Relations and Chinese Perspective of Regional Situation” on August 7, 2018. The round table session was held in the CISS Conference Room. Ambassador Jing candidly discussed Sino-Pak cooperation for last seven decades. He stated that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) would dominate China’s foreign policy, particularly neighborhood policy for decades to come. He said that Pakistan and China have a strong all-encompassing strategic partnership of which CPEC is an important but not the sole determining factor. Talking about CPEC, he reiterated that China aims to deal with all hurdles in developmental projects of CPEC. Ambassador Jing underlined China’s close cooperation with Pakistan on Afghanistan and highlighted Pakistan’s leading role in Afghan reconciliation and reconstruction process. He firmly believed that any negotiations for restoring peace in Afghanistan should include Pakistan as a key stakeholder to collaboratively help restore a relatively independent Afghanistan. He also spoke about China’s relations with Russia, which were becoming stronger, in the face of hostility of Western countries, particularly the United States.
The round table was attended by former ambassadors, retired generals, technocrats, representatives of the Foreign Office and members of the academia. An active discussion followed the talk. Executive Director, CISS, Ambassador Naqvi, in his concluding remarks thanked Ambassador Yao Jing for a lucid presentation covering many significant issues and the participants for their contribution to the animated discussion that followed the talk.
