China does not want to play a leadership role in the region or in world affairs. Having cordial relations with its neighbours is the core of its policy, said a Chinese scholar visiting with his team at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) here on Thursday, said a press release.
When asked about Beijing’s growing ties with India, particularly when the US is reportedly bolstering India against China, the scholars said that China is following a policy of friendship with its neighbours including India.
When IPRI President Dr Maqsudul Hasan Nuri referred to growth of the Confucian philosophy and its similarity with the precepts and teachings of Islam, the Chinese scholars said that the development of peace and stability is the substance of Confucian thought.
Pakistan believes Iran’s nuclear programme is peaceful, Dr Nuri told the delegation. He said that a cancer hospital in Tehran alone required a sizeable amount of uranium to operate. If the West agreed to provide the material, Iran would readily abandon its enrichment activities.
In fact, Iran is being propelled into a nuclear defence arrangement by the persistent threats of attack from Israel, Dr Nuri added. Moreover, the changing position of the International Atomic Energy Agency on the issue had made the Iranian programme a suspect and a mystery in the eyes of the world.
Dr Nuri explained that the US had traditionally opposed the nuclear programmes of all countries, including that of China and Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2012.
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