ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif assured Islamabad would provide the “highest level of security” for Chinese nationals in Pakistan, as the two allies marked the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations on Thursday.
Chinese infrastructure sites and workers in Pakistan have increasingly come under attack from ethnic Baloch militant groups based in southwestern Pakistan. Islamabad has repeatedly vowed to tighten security and has deployed special protection units for Chinese nationals.
Much of the violence is seen as a reaction to China’s investment plans in Balochistan, especially its port city of Gwadar. Beijing has pledged investments worth over $60 billion for a network of infrastructure, energy, and transport projects known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that links Gwadar Port to China’s northwestern Xinjiang region.
Speaking at a ceremony in Islamabad to mark 75 years of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Pakistan and China, Sharif said he was looking forward to his May 23-26 visit to China and that the security of Chinese nationals in Pakistan is of “paramount importance” for Islamabad.
“And I want to assure you, and through you, Chinese leadership, that we will not spare any effort to provide the highest level of security to our Chinese brothers here in this country,” the Pakistani prime minister said.
Sharif said the government believed that every Chinese national should be provided the level of security that President Asif Ali Zardari and the prime minister are provided in Pakistan.
“We’ll certainly also address the question of further improving our cooperation on counterterrorism, and of course how to make our security measures as best as possible,” he added.
Sharif noted that Pakistan and China enjoyed cooperation in several economic sectors. The Pakistani premier said the two nations would also enhance their partnership in the next phase of CPEC, dubbed “CPEC 2.0,” which focuses on agriculture, IT, artificial intelligence, special economic zones and mines and minerals.
“As I’ve already explained, China has been the most steadfast and the most trusted friend of Pakistan in this world,” Sharif said.
Attacks targeting Chinese interests in Pakistan have caused CPEC projects to suffer delays over the years.
Major incidents also include a suicide bombing outside Karachi airport in 2024 that killed two Chinese engineers, and a March 2024 attack in which five Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver died when a bomber rammed a convoy near a dam project in northwest Pakistan.
In 2021, a bus bombing in Dasu, also in the northwest, killed 13 people, nine of them Chinese nationals.
These attacks have worried China, with President Xi Jinping pressing Sharif in September last year to bolster security for Chinese nationals in Pakistan. The discussion between the two took place when Sharif visited China for the SCO heads of state summit.
