Top Chinese officials in Beijing give a befitting response to US tirade against Islamabad and Beijing
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ISLAMABAD - Dismissing US's claims that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would only increase debt burden on Pakistan, China has said that US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells's statements are nothing new and are merely repetition of old slanders against China.
Addressing a press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said that both China and Pakistan have refuted and clarified such ‘smears' again and again. However, he added that some in the US still use the same old script and will not stop though the show has become a ‘a complete disaster'.
The spokesperson further said that China puts Pakistan's interests first and is committed to cooperation for shared benefits. He continued that CPEC's increasingly important role in boosting Pakistan's socioeconomic development can be seen in the tens of thousands of jobs for Pakistanis as well as progress made in at least 22 projects.
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“Whether the CPEC works and whether China-Pakistan cooperation is good or not, the answer is presented to you in facts and data," Shuang added. While talking about US's accusations that CPEC would only increase Pakistan's debt, he said that half of Pakistan's foreign debt is from multilateral financial institutions.
“According to statistics released by the Pakistani side, debt incurred from the CPEC stands at 4.9 billion US dollars, less than one tenth of Pakistan's total debt. I'm afraid certain individuals in the US are not bad at math, but rather misguided by evil calculations," the Chinese spokesperson said.
Shuang also said that if Washington wanted to cooperate with Islamabad then it should take concrete measures and honour its commitments instead of always ‘paying lip service and being the spoiler'.
“Finally, whatever the US says or does to sabotage our cooperation, China will work with Pakistan for steady progress in the CPEC and in our all-weather strategic cooperative partnership to bring more benefits to the Pakistani people, to the region and beyond," the Chinese spokesperson concluded.
