By Liu Jianxi and Leng Shumei in Global Times, June 15, 2017
A Pakistan official said Wednesday that they will “bring to justice” those responsible for kidnapping two Chinese citizens in Pakistan. He also warned of the incident being used by “whoever” to disrupt Sino-Pakistan ties.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said at a press conference Wednesday that China had not received official confirmation from Pakistan of the deaths of the two Chinese nationals allegedly kidnapped and killed in Pakistan.
Lu said the ministry will do its best to verify reports that the two have been killed as soon as possible.
“China firmly opposes all kinds of terrorism and extreme violence against civilians, and supports Pakistan’s efforts to combat terrorism and safeguard domestic security,” Lu noted, adding that China will work with the international community in the fight against terrorism.
Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar on Monday directed the ministry to review, regulate and streamline the process of issuing visas to Chinese nationals, Xinhua reported.
Nisar said that all Pakistani missions are properly scrutinizing visa applications and must get all necessary details before issuing visas.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said the Pakistani government has deployed a Special Security Division of 15,000 to safeguard projects in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative, and provinces in the country have also applied measures to protect Chinese people by hiring more security personnel and investigating their current situation.
An anonymous Pakistani official expressed deep regrets over the incident to the Global Times on Wednesday, saying that they “will bring all perpetrators to justice.”
The official said that whoever wanted to use the incident to disrupt Sino-Pakistani ties and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiative will fail.
“China invests in Africa, South Asia and other regions, and these are positive developments. The investments will bring jobs, jobs will bring prosperity, prosperity will lead to stability, stability will lead to peace,” the official said.
Lu said at the Wednesday press conference that China would cooperate with Pakistan’s investigation into the two people’s alleged illegal evangelization activities.
He also expressed China’s appreciation to Pakistan’s efforts to rescue the two hostages and its commitment to better protect Chinese nationals and institutions in Pakistan.
“The incident will not damage China-Pakistani ties. On the contrary, it will alert the Pakistani government and make them improve security, especially for projects and people involved in the initiative,” said Wang Dehua, director of the Institute for Southern and Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Municipal Center for International Studies.
Wang said that the abduction was coincidental, adding that the Pakistani government had spared no efforts to protect Chinese people living in Pakistan.
Li Wei, an expert on anti-terrorism at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times that “although Chinese employees are protected in Pakistan, it might not be enough to prevent premeditated crimes from terrorist groups like the abduction.”
“The situation is very complicated in some provinces in Pakistan like Balochistan, where the kidnapping happened,” Li noted.
Li said that in the future, China and Pakistan should enhance cooperation to improve the latter’s anti-terrorist ability.
Pakistan, together with India, was officially admitted as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) last week at the 2017 SCO summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.
“I think the SCO will serve as a platform for the two countries, who have a history of disputes, to solve their problems through cooperation and negotiations,” Wang said.
The anonymous Pakistani official said he believes that economic cooperation would bring the region together. http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1051744.shtml
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