Sino-Pak relations: Scholars advise cooperation in rebuilding Afghanistan

Pakistani scholars exchange views with Chinese delegation at IPRI.

Visiting Chinese scholars have expressed interest in seeking Pakistan’s cooperation on Afghanistan. They believe China could play an effective role in stabilising Afghanistan via an arrangement with Pakistan, says a press release.

A delegation of scholars from the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) headed, by its Vice President Mr Ji Zhiye, visited the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) on Friday evening for exchange of views with Pakistani scholars.

Other members of the Chinese delegation included Mr Hu Shisheng, Ms Ni Xiayun and Mr Du Bing.

The leader of the delegation said that China could play an effective role in stabilising the situation in Afghanistan through a tri-lateral arrangement with Pakistan, as China could benefit from Pakistan’s knowledge of and close ties with Afghanistan. He suggested that such an arrangement could neutralize, in his opinion, “the nexus building up between the US and India under the recent declaration of strategic partnership between the US and Afghanistan.”

IPRI scholars briefed the Chinese guests on areas in which the two countries could bolster their mutual relations. They explained how terrorism, which in their opinion was a spillover from the Afghan war, remains the biggest threat to the stability of Pakistan.

They said Pakistan can contribute a great deal in bringing peace to Afghanistan through its close blood ties with the Pashtun population.

The Chinese scholars, who arrived here after a trip to Kabul, thought that the position of the Karzai government depended heavily on the presence of “Western forces” and found it difficult to assess what may happen when the Americans and NATO forces quit.

They said that the region’s countries, particularly Pakistan and China,
can play a very positive role in Afghanistan through cooperation in rebuilding
the Afghan society economically, politically and through re-construction of its social and physical infrastructure.

IPRI Acting President Dr Maqsudul Hasan Nuri thanked the guest scholars for what he called “their lucid review of the situation in the region.”



Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2011.