China seeks targeted security for its citizens in Pakistan

By Ismail Dilawar

A week after two of its citizens were killed in Pakistan, China underscored the necessity of “targeted security measures” to protect Chinese nationals working in the South Asian nation.

In a joint statement released by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday during a visit to Islamabad by Chinese Prime minister Li Qiang, China expressed the urgency of creating “a safe environment for cooperation between the two countries.”

Li’s meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other officials was punctuated by the signing of 13 documents covering cooperation on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor program, including currency swaps, quarantine requirements of Pakistani products, science and technology and co-production of television programs.  

The two countries are entering into the second phase of the multibillion-dollar program, part of China’s Belt and Road initiative, that Islamabad expects will lead to the relocation of Chinese export-oriented industries to Pakistan.

At the same time, Pakistani authorities have been trying to protect about 2,500 Chinese citizens working on different projects, from roads to power. 

But five Chinese nationals working at a power project in Pakistan’s northwest region were killed in an attack in March that Islamabad blamed on Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, an offshoot of Afghanistan’s Taliban. Baloch Liberation Army, another militant group, claimed responsibility for last week’s killings, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Pakistan said it was committed to further enhancing security and coordination and making comprehensive efforts to ensure the safety and security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in the country.

China acknowledged the efforts made by Pakistan, according to the Foreign Ministry statement.

In a related move, the two countries called on the Taliban-led Afghan government “to take visible and verifiable actions to dismantle and eliminate all terrorist groups based in Afghanistan.”