China | Pakistan

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China for the first time in over seven years, a government source said on Wednesday, in a further sign of a diplomatic thaw with Beijing as tensions with the United States rise. Modi will go to China for a summit of the multilateral Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) that begins on Augst 31, the government source, with direct knowledge of the matter, told Reuters. India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. His trip will come at a time when India’s relationship with the US faces its most serious crisis in years after President Donald Trump imposed the highest tariffs among Asian peers on goods imported from India, and has threatened an unspecified further penalty for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil. Modi’s visit to the Chinese city of Tianjin for the summit of the SCO, a Eurasian political and security grouping that includes Russia, will be his first since June 2018. Subsequently, Sino-Indian ties deteriorated sharply ...

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal stressed Pakistan’s interest in benefitting from China’s technological progress for the development of electric vehicles (EVs), state-run Radio Pakistan reported on Wednesday. Pakistan and China share a longstanding strategic partnership rooted in mutual trust, economic cooperation and regional connectivity. Over the decades, ties have expanded across different sectors — including trade, energy, defence and infrastructure — with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) symbolising a shared vision for development. Speaking to the media in Beijing during an official visit, the planning and development minister expressed Pakistan’s “desire to benefit from Chinese technological advancements”, according to Radio Pakistan. This includes the development of next-generation batteries, such as sodium-ion batteries, which offer advantages over traditional lithium technology. Iqbal also reaffirmed Pakistan’s interest in developing the EV sector in partnership with China, noting electric v...

BEIJING: Pakistan has sought China’s support in developing sodium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), as Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhary, identified EVs as a key area of future cooperation between the two countries. Speaking at a press conference at the Pakistani Embassy in Beijing, Ahsan Iqbal emphasized Pakistan’s interest […]

Pakistan and China have reiterated their commitment to strengthening bilateral relations during a meeting between Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong in Beijing on Saturday.

BEIJING: Pakistan’s exports of industrial salt to China increased markedly in the initial half of 2025, highlighting the strengthening trade relations between the two nations. According to the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC), industrial salt exports from Pakistan have surged, totalling $3.74 million between January and June 2025, marking […]

Heavy rain killed more than 30 people and forced authorities to evacuate tens of thousands as swaths of northern China were lashed by torrential downpours that sparked landslides and flooding, state media said Tuesday. Weather authorities have issued their second-highest rainstorm warning for the capital Beijing, neighbouring Hebei and Tianjin, as well as 10 other provinces, state news agency Xinhua said. The rains are expected to last into Wednesday, it added. As of midnight Monday, the heavy rainstorms had left 30 people dead in Beijing, Xinhua said, citing the city’s municipal flood control headquarters. More than 80,000 people have been evacuated in the Chinese capital alone, local state-run outlet Beijing Daily said on social media. The death toll was highest in Miyun, a suburban district northeast of the city centre, it said. “This time the rain was unusually heavy, it’s not normally like this,” a resident of Miyun, surnamed Jiang, told AFP as water streamed down the road outside her house. “The road is...

Top U.S. and Chinese economic officials met in Stockholm on Monday for more than five hours of talks aimed at resolving longstanding economic disputes at the centre of a trade war between the world’s top two economies, seeking to extend a truce by three months. U.S. Treasury Chief Scott Bessent was part of a U.S. negotiating team […]

China’s premier Li Qiang warned on Saturday that artificial intelligence development must be weighed against the security risks, saying a global consensus was urgently needed even as the tech race between Beijing and Washington shows no sign of abating. His remarks came just days after United States President Donald Trump unveiled an aggressive low-regulation strategy aimed at cementing US dominance in the fast-moving field, promising to “remove red tape and onerous regulation” that could hinder private sector AI development. Opening the World AI Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai on Saturday, Li emphasised the need for governance and open-source development, announcing the establishment of a Chinese-led body for international AI cooperation. “The risks and challenges brought by artificial intelligence have drawn widespread attention […] How to find a balance between development and security urgently requires further consensus from the entire society,” the premier said. Li said China would “actively promote” the d...

Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir undertook an official visit to China.

HONG KONG: China’s Premier Li Qiang announced construction had begun on what will be the world’s largest hydropower dam, on the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau, at an estimated cost of at least $170 billion, the official Xinhua news agency said. Commencement of the hydropower project, China’s most ambitious since the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze, was seized by Chinese markets as proof of economic stimulus, sending stock prices and bond yields higher on Monday. Made up of five cascade hydropower stations with the capacity to produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, equal to the amount of electricity consumed by Britain last year, the dam will be located in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo. A section of the river tumbles 2,000 metres in a span of 50km, offering huge hydropower potential. India and Bangladesh have already raised concerns about its possible impact on the millions of people downstream, while NGOs warned of the risk to one of the richest and most diverse environments...

United States President Donald Trump’s lunch meeting with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir prompted a private diplomatic protest from India in a warning to Washington about risks to their bilateral ties while New Delhi is recalibrating relations with China as a hedge, officials and analysts said. The meeting and other tensions in the US-India relationship, after decades of flourishing ties, have cast a shadow in trade negotiations, they said, as Trump’s administration weighs tariffs against one of its major partners in the Indo-Pacific. India blames Pakistan, especially the military establishment, for supporting what it alleges is cross-border terrorism and has told the US it is sending the wrong signals by wooing Field Marshal Munir, three senior Indian government officials directly aware of the matter told Reuters. It has created a sore spot that will hamper relations going forward, they said. Pakistan has denied accusations that it supports militants who carried out an attack in Ind...

China’s Premier Li Qiang has announced that construction had begun on what would be the world’s largest hydropower dam on the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau, the country’s official Xinhua news agency reported — sending stock prices and bond yields higher on Monday. The commencement of the hydropower project at an estimated cost of at least $170 billion, China’s most ambitious since the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze, was seized by Chinese markets as proof of economic stimulus. Made up of five cascade hydropower stations with the capacity to produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, equal to the amount of electricity consumed by Britain last year, the dam will be located in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo. A section of the river tumbles 2,000 metres in a span of 50km, offering huge hydropower potential. India and Bangladesh have already raised concerns about its possible impact on the millions of people downstream. China asserts that the project has undergone rigorous scientific ...

Islamabad - In a landmark initiative aimed at revolutionizing Pakistan’s agriculture sector through international collaboration and knowledge exchange, a group of 100 young agricultural professionals is set to depart for China on Sunday (today) for training in Southwest University of Science and Technology as part of the.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday announced that the first batch of 300 Pakistani agriculture graduates had completed their hands-on training in China’s Shaanxi province as part of a joint agriculture training initiative. Last July, it was announced that 1,000 students would travel to China for modern agricultural vocational training at the government’s expense. The first batch of students was sent to China at the beginning of the academic year 2024-25, while the next batch would be sent to Chinese agricultural universities after learning Chinese in Pakistan. In a post on X, the PM said it was “very heartening” to hear that the 300 students completed their training “in important areas of water saving irrigation, seed production, animal husbandry, agriculture production and prevention of post-harvest losses”. “My special thanks to the Chinese leadership, [the] Shaanxi Government and the two universities,” PM Shehbaz said, referring to North West Agriculture and Forestry University and Yangling Vocational...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and China yester­day vowed to bolster bilat­eral ties as they discussed progress on the multibil­lion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, where the pair discussed and reaffirmed mutual support in core sectors, including agriculture, mining, industry and security, Chinese media reported. Dar was on a three-day visit to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Tianjin on Tuesday. According to the Foreign Office (FO), Dar and Wang were scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the event. The Foreign Office (FO) said in a post on X: “The two leaders held wide-ranging discussions on key areas of mutual interest, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and multilateral cooperation.” According to Chinese state-owned broadcaster CGTN, the top diplomats reaffirmed their mutual support on issues concerning each other’s core interests. “China is ready to work with Pakistan to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, and push forward the building of a China-Pakistan community wit...

Posts from users and Indian accounts on social media platform X on Monday were claiming that China has removed Pakistan from its list of countries allowed visa-free entry. However, no such development has occurred since Pakistan was never included in China’s list of countries with visa-free entry. Pakistan and China share a longstanding strategic partnership rooted in mutual trust, economic cooperation, and regional connectivity. Over the decades, ties have expanded across different sectors, including trade, energy, infrastructure, and media collaboration, with initiatives like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor symbolising a shared vision for development. On July 14, a user, who appears to be a PTI supporter based on his previous posts, claimed in a post on X that China has removed Pakistan from its list of visa-free countries. A social media graphic from a news outlet accompanying the post reads: “China just announced visa-free entry for 74 countries, but Pakistan didn’t make the list.” The post garnered ...

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday that Beijing and New Delhi should work towards mutual trust and “win-win” cooperation, after talks with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, state news agency Xinhua reported. China and India should “adhere to the direction of good-neighbourliness and friendship” and “find a way for mutual respect and trust, peaceful coexistence, common development and win-win cooperation”, Wang said, according to Xinhua. The two foreign ministers met in Beijing on Monday as the two rivals seek to repair ties following a 2020 clash on their border. The world’s two most populous nations are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia, and their 3,500-kilometre frontier has been a perennial source of tension. The 2020 clash between their troops led to a four-year military standoff, but they agreed in October on patrols in disputed areas. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping met for the first time in five years late...

India and China must resolve friction along their border, pull back troops and avoid “restrictive trade measures” to normalise their relationship, India’s foreign minister told his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on Monday. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met Wang Yi in Beijing during his first trip to the country since 2020, when a deadly border clash between their troops led to a four-year military standoff and damaged ties until a thaw began in October, when they agreed to step back. “Good progress” made by the countries in the past nine months for normalisation of relations is a result of the resolution of friction along their border, Jaishankar told Wang. India and China share a 3,800-kilometre border that is poorly demarcated and has been disputed since the 1950s. They fought a brief but brutal border war in 1962, and talks over the decades to settle the border dispute have made slow progress. Last month, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told his Chinese counterpart that the two countries should seek a “per...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will travel to Tianjin, China, tomorrow for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, state media outlet Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday. The SCO is a 10-nation Eurasian security and political grouping whose members include China, Russia, Pakistan, India, and Iran. Their foreign ministers’ meeting was held as a precursor to the annual summit of its leaders set for the autumn. According to the report, the top diplomats from Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will also attend the event. “The upcoming Council of Heads of State will take place on August 31 and September 1 in Tianjin, China,” Radio Pakistan reported. “At the invitation of the Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan Ishaq Dar will lead the Pakistan delegation to the meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers,” the Foreign Office (FO) said. The ...