BEIJING – A former Chinese diplomat has expressed the confidence that therelations between China and Pakistan, all-weather friends and strategicpartners, would continue to prosper after Chief of PakistanTehrik-e-Pakistan (PTI), Imran Khan takes oath as prime minister ofPakistan.
“After decades of trials and hardships and strong public opinion, theChina-Pakistan relations will continue to be strengthened after Imran Khantakes over, it won’t have any effect,” former Chinese diplomat and seniorresearch fellow of Charhar Institute, Cheng Xizhong told APP here on Sunday.
He said, “China-Pakistan relation will change – This could be only the hopeof some forces.”
Cheng said, for the first time in the history of Pakistan, a third party –PTI led by Imran Khan has won the general election. Imran Khan will be theprime minister, thus breaking the long-standing rule by PPP and PML(N) inturn.
Over the past many years, PPP and PML(N) ruled the country in turn.Actually, it was a family rule. “In the family rule, the problem ofcorruption becomes quite prominent and as a result, the two partiesgradually lost the trust of the people and the foundation of the rule.”
Imran Khan, leader of the majority party in the parliament, won the generalelection mainly because he held high the two banners of fighting corruptionand engaging in reform and catered to the expectations of ordinary people.
He said that Imran Khan will have to work hard to deliver on his promisesand fight a very difficult battle against corruption.
While commenting on Pak-India relations under the PTI government, he saidthat Imran Khan has brought a ray of hope for the normalization ofrelations between India and Pakistan.
In his victory speech, Imran Khan said, if India comes one step closer tous, we will take two steps towards India.
After Imran Khan won the election, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi alsosent a message of congratulations, reiterating his desire to achieve peaceand stability in the region.
While commenting on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, heopined that both the countries would continue their cooperation in futureas well.
In recent years, the CPEC has played a positive role in maintaining arelatively high growth rate in the Pakistani economy.
“The corridor will not only benefit the economy economically but will alsohelp improve people’s lives and generate social benefits.”
He stressed that the project has significantly solved the power shortageproblem in Pakistan and is expected to create one million jobs for thelocal people. – APP