CPEC 2.0: China, Pak to deepen cooperation

Chinese envoy says stronger ties will help both countries navigate external uncertainties

ISLAMABAD:

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong has said Beijing is ready to work with Islamabad to capitalise on their geographical proximity, mutual trust and longstanding friendship, adding that the two countries will jointly build CPEC 2.0 with high quality.

Zaidong said the two nations will expand and deepen exchanges and all-round cooperation in various fields, cope with the uncertainty of the external environment with the certainty of China-Pakistan relations, and accelerate building an even closer community with a shared future in the new era.

"This will provide new and greater momentum for both countries to achieve their respective modernization," the envoy said in a statement issued on Saturday.

He said China and Pakistan have stood firmly together throughout more than 75 years of diplomatic ties. He described the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership of the two neighbours as a model of friendly cooperation between nations.

The ambassador said China and Pakistan, as countries where multiple ethnicities and cultures coexist, have consistently respected each other's history, culture and national conditions while supporting one another on issues concerning national unity and ethnic solidarity.

Jiang appreciated Pakistan's adherence to the one-China principle and its support for China on issues concerning Taiwan, Xinjiang and Xizang.

Talking with reference to China's Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, which came into effect on July 1, he said the law has laid a solid rule-of-law foundation for the country's ethnic affairs, human rights protection and enduring stability in border areas.

Ambassador Jiang said the legislation was China's first foundational and comprehensive law concerning ethnic affairs and demonstrated its resolve to ensure equality among all ethnic groups, safeguard their fundamental interests and promote their common prosperity and development.

He said the enactment of the law was necessary to forge a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, describing China as a unified multiethnic country whose people had jointly built the state, created a rich culture and developed a shared national identity through centuries of interaction, exchange and integration.

Citing Chinese President Xi Jinping's view that a strong sense of national identity was the foundation of ethnic unity, Jiang said the law strengthened institutional mechanisms for building a community with a shared future among China's ethnic groups.

He said the legislation was also a practical necessity for advancing Chinese modernisation and achieving common prosperity, stressing that no ethnic group should be left behind in the development process.