President Asif Ali Zardari has arrived in China on a four-day visit, and about a dozen agreements and MoUs pertaining to trade, counter-terrorism, commerce, industrial development, banking, power and financial sectors are on the cards. China had supported Pakistan's demand that the US should ink civil-nuclear agreement with Pakistan similar to the one signed between the US and India.
Since the US had made its intent known that such an agreement between the US and Pakistan is not possible, there is every possibility that Pakistan and China might go for a nuclear deal during President Zardari's visit. The president will meet Chairman of National People's Congress Wu Bangguo, Premier Wen Jiabao and Chairman of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin, who are looking forward to the meeting. Meanwhile, Chinese spokesman Qin Gang said it was "a pleasure for us that Mr Zardari has chosen China for his first foreign visit after ascending to the presidency". He thus laid all suspicions, speculations and rumours to rest that China was unhappy over President Zardari's visit to England and the US. President Asif Ali Zardari had promised to visit China in the first instance immediately after his election to the presidency but in view of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's statement supporting the US stance about unilateral action in FATA, he had to rush to England. And his visit proved fructuous in that Gordon Brown resiled from earlier position. President Zardari's visit to the US to attend United Nations General Assembly session was important, as he had the opportunity of meeting various heads of state and government, including Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Before President arrived, the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China held a meeting in Beijing setting tone for the talks between President Asif Ali Zardari and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao. Anyhow, China is Pakistan's time-tested friend and both countries enjoy multi-dimensional relationships. There is tremendous potential for trade between the two friendly countries, and both are committed to raising the figure from $7 billion to $15 billion by 2010. China is already involved in variety of projects, including Gwadar Port Project and Saindak Copper Project in Balochistan, but Pakistan's enemies are trying to sabotage these projects. China has extended full cooperation to make Pakistan self-reliant by providing know-how with a view to strengthening and ensuring territorial integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan. It would not be an exaggeration to say that no other country in the world has so much interest in Pakistan's stability as China has. Pakistan in the past purchased MIGs and tanks from China and at present Beijing and Islamabad are involved in joint production of JF-17 Thunder aircraft, which has the most sophisticated avionics. The launch of JF-17 Thunder aircraft production project has been described as a giant leap towards indigenisation and self-reliance. Pakistan should emulate China, as it focused on strengthening its economy because its leadership believed that economic strength is indispensable to military power to frustrate the designs of our enemies. But first of all, Pakistani leadership has to understand that without eliminating terrorism and improving law and order situation, the country cannot move forward. The ruling and opposition parties must therefore use collective wisdom to revive economy and to overcome challenges and threats to internal and external security. And of course the common man must benefit from the economic growth.
Since the US had made its intent known that such an agreement between the US and Pakistan is not possible, there is every possibility that Pakistan and China might go for a nuclear deal during President Zardari's visit. The president will meet Chairman of National People's Congress Wu Bangguo, Premier Wen Jiabao and Chairman of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin, who are looking forward to the meeting. Meanwhile, Chinese spokesman Qin Gang said it was "a pleasure for us that Mr Zardari has chosen China for his first foreign visit after ascending to the presidency". He thus laid all suspicions, speculations and rumours to rest that China was unhappy over President Zardari's visit to England and the US. President Asif Ali Zardari had promised to visit China in the first instance immediately after his election to the presidency but in view of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's statement supporting the US stance about unilateral action in FATA, he had to rush to England. And his visit proved fructuous in that Gordon Brown resiled from earlier position. President Zardari's visit to the US to attend United Nations General Assembly session was important, as he had the opportunity of meeting various heads of state and government, including Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Before President arrived, the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China held a meeting in Beijing setting tone for the talks between President Asif Ali Zardari and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao. Anyhow, China is Pakistan's time-tested friend and both countries enjoy multi-dimensional relationships. There is tremendous potential for trade between the two friendly countries, and both are committed to raising the figure from $7 billion to $15 billion by 2010. China is already involved in variety of projects, including Gwadar Port Project and Saindak Copper Project in Balochistan, but Pakistan's enemies are trying to sabotage these projects. China has extended full cooperation to make Pakistan self-reliant by providing know-how with a view to strengthening and ensuring territorial integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan. It would not be an exaggeration to say that no other country in the world has so much interest in Pakistan's stability as China has. Pakistan in the past purchased MIGs and tanks from China and at present Beijing and Islamabad are involved in joint production of JF-17 Thunder aircraft, which has the most sophisticated avionics. The launch of JF-17 Thunder aircraft production project has been described as a giant leap towards indigenisation and self-reliance. Pakistan should emulate China, as it focused on strengthening its economy because its leadership believed that economic strength is indispensable to military power to frustrate the designs of our enemies. But first of all, Pakistani leadership has to understand that without eliminating terrorism and improving law and order situation, the country cannot move forward. The ruling and opposition parties must therefore use collective wisdom to revive economy and to overcome challenges and threats to internal and external security. And of course the common man must benefit from the economic growth.
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