Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing on Wednesday declared that his country will continue to support Pakistan on the Kashmir issue.
“This is the issue of international justice and we will stand by Pakistan for the just cause of the Kashmiri people,” the ambassador said while addressing a reception hosted on the occasion of Chinese Lunar New Year. He hoped that the world community will fulfill its responsibility in this connection and ensure justice to the people of Kashmir. “We are very much concerned about the situation in the occupied valley,” he added.
In his keynote speech, the ambassador highlighted the growing relations between the two brotherly countries in the recent years, particularly in the context of CPEC that has now entered into the second phase of its implementation. With the implementation of the phase of the free-trade agreement, the two countries have now moved forward raising the level of their bilateral trade, he said.
According to Yao Jing, the year 2020 will also be a historical year which will usher in a new chapter of win-win cooperation between China and Pakistan. “As an iron brother, Pakistan will always be a priority partner in China’s external relations,” he said. “China and Pakistan will further strengthen mutual support and strategic cooperation. As good neighbours, good friends, good partners and good brothers, who share weal and woe, we will continue to build upon our mutual trust and firmly safeguard our sovereignty, territorial integrity and national dignity,” he said.
The ambassador said China and Pakistan will enhance cooperation to achieve the goal of common development. “We will continue to promote high-quality development of CPEC. We will deepen cooperation in trade and investment, support the development of manufacturing industry in Pakistan, increase employment and expand exports, and help Pakistan accelerate integration into the international industrial chain,” he said, and reiterated that China wants people-to-people relations between the two countries to grow.
Ambassador Yao Jing said the two countries will consolidate international cooperation to work for regional peace. “We will strengthen coordination and cooperation on major international and regional issues, jointly safeguard the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, support multilateralism and win-win cooperation, and highlight the representation and voice of developing countries on international affairs,” he said.
About his country’s socio-economic rise, the ambassador said the year 2020 will also be a landmark year of great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. “China will complete its thirteenth five-year plan, eliminate poverty completely and build a moderately prosperous society in all respects,” he said, and pointed out that the year 2019 is of great historic significance for China’s development. Ambassador Yao Jing thanked the Pakistani media for its objective reporting on crucial issues, particular those relating to Xinjiang. He categorically stated that smooth implementation of CPEC-related projects is going on and the governments of both the countries are very much sincere to this mega development plan as it relates to the well-being of the people of both the countries.
