Second Phase
10 June 2024
Published in: The Nation
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s visit to China is proving to be fruitful. So far, the delegation has signed 31 different Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with Chinese companies across a vast range of fields, highlighting and strengthening the strategic partnership between the two nations at every turn.
The key moment of this visit came on Friday when Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed their commitment to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and ensured the timely completion of major ongoing projects. This “Second Phase” of CPEC is crucial to making sure the vision shared by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif comes to fruition. While many ambitious projects were launched under the original scheme, global conflicts, ballooning costs, and political turmoil have caused many of them to fall by the wayside. They need to be restarted with the same vigor Pakistan had for them when they were first announced, while seeking to upgrade and evolve elements of the plan according to current technology and requirements. This would itself have been a significant and successful foreign visit, but strategic matters were also discussed. The two leaders exchanged views on regional and global developments, including Afghanistan, Palestine, and South Asia, as well as the human rights situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir, and reiterated their longstanding support for each other’s core issues.
This support for each other’s core interests is important. China is facing increasing military deterrence, sponsored by the United States in Taiwan, while Pakistan’s quest to free Kashmir has been quelled by a brutal Indian occupation that is growing increasingly violent. Both “Iron Brothers” need each other going forward, in the region and the world. With Pakistan joining China in the Security Council, the need to cooperate on global issues is urgent.
