Pakistan’s relations with China are exceptional: Pakistani NSA

Islamabad: National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf has said that Pakistan’s relations with China were exceptional.

“We want good relations with all countries besides promoting exports. However, our ties with China are exceptional,” he commented in an interview with a Pakistani television channel.

He mentioned that the Pakistan Tehrik e Insaf (PTI)-led government was paying special attention to expedite exports.

About energy projects, he maintained that there was a payment capacity issues and it will take some time to come out from this situation.

In an earlier interview, Moeed Yusuf had acknowledged that the Chinese aid to Pakistan during Covid-19 pandemic was not less than a life saver.

He noted that majority of Pakistanis were administered Chinese vaccines. “We are grateful for all help provided by China. We are a country of 220 million and it’s a lot more to go. We will continue to work with our Chinese counterparts to ensure that more and more is available to us to ensure that all our people get vaccinated,” he had then stated.

He underlined that it should be understood that Pakistan and China had been friends and partners and had had strategic relationship. “We have used all sorts of clichés to define this friendship. The true sense of friendship between states even defines whether your partner has been available in the toughest of times,” the NSA remarked.

He added that China has always been available for Pakistan in the hour of need and Pakistan always reciprocated the same wherever and whenever needed. To a query, he replied that due to Covid-19 pandemic physical interaction was minimized which is important for strengthening the relations.

“We recently had the JCC (Joint Cooperation Committee) meeting (of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) after a long time to reaffirm Pakistan’s commitment to China and vice versa and also to agree on the way forward, fast track projects and to signal the world that Pakistan and China would continue to go strength to strength,” the NSA maintained.

Yusuf explained that Iron brothers meant that this was a partnership that could not be broken, adding, “others around the world can try but cannot create a wedge between us. Our interests match and our partnership for so many years have borne the tests of time.”