China | Pakistan

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb met with China’s Deputy Finance Minister Liao Min in Washington and sought Beijing’s support for Pakistan’s membership in BRICS’ New Development Bank (NDB), the Ministry of Finance said on Friday. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the plenary meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) in Washington, DC, where Aurangzeb had arrived on Sunday on a six-day trip from Oct 13 to 18. NDB — established in 2015 by the BRICS — is a multilateral development bank aimed at mobilising resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS, as per their website. In February, the Economic Coord­ination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet had approved Pakistan’s membership in the NDB. In a statement issued today, the ministry said, “Aurangzeb sought China’s support for Pakistan’s membership in the NDB and welcomed enhanced investment from Chinese enterprises in key sectors, including information and communication technology, agriculture, indu...

China has voiced support for Pakistan and Afghanistan’s ongoing efforts to maintain restraint and implement a comprehensive, lasting ceasefire following recent cross-border clashes.

China’s foreign ministry has said that Pakistan keeps its strategic ally aware of its cooperation with the United States in the mining sector, and the two countries have maintained a “high-level strategic mutual trust and close communication”. “The two countries have maintained high-level strategic mutual trust and close communication on major issues concerning each other’s common interests. From what I’ve learned, the two countries have been in communication on Pakistan-US mining cooperation,” said spokesperson Lin Jian. US Strategic Metals, which signed a memorandum of understanding with Pakistan in September to invest rou­ghly $500 million to establish mineral processing and development facilities in the country, rece­ntly dispatched its first consignment of mineral samples to the US to advance the deal. The sample shipment, prepared locally in collaboration with the Frontier Works Organisation, includes antimony, copper concentrate, and rare earth elements such as neodymium and praseodymium. Pakistan also...

China is concerned about recent border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan and has asked the two countries to protect their nationals and investments in the region, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Monday. Intense border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan started late on Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that 23 Pakistani troops were martyred and 200 Taliban and affiliated terrorists were killed when Islamabad responded to aggression by Kabul. Afghanistan claimed it carried out the attack as a “retaliatory” measure, accusing Islamabad of conducting air strikes in its territory earlier this week. For its part, Islamabad has not confirmed whether it was behind the air strikes but maintains that Kabul should “stop harbouring the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan on its soil”. In response to Islamabad’s repeated calls to bar terrorists from using its territory for cross-border attacks, Afghanistan denies the allegation of allowing terrorist out...

India and China will resume direct flights between their two countries this month after a five-year suspension, officials said, with bookings opening on Friday. Direct flights between the world’s two most populous countries were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and were not resumed as tensions grew between Beijing and New Delhi over border disputes. Relations between the Asian rivals have since thawed, and their leaders spoke in China in August and in Kazan, Russia, last year. Following technical discussions, “it has now been agreed that direct air services connecting designated points in India and China can resume by late October”, an Indian government statement released on Thursday said. “This agreement of the civil aviation authorities will further facilitate people-to-people contact between India and China, contributing towards the gradual normalisation of bilateral exchanges,” it said. IndiGo, India’s largest commercial operator, said today it would start direct daily flights between Kolkat...

President Asif Ali Zardari has stated that Pakistan stands with China during good times and bad. He made the remarks during an interview with Chinese state-owned broadcaster CGTN that was aired on Thursday. During the interview, the president, who visited China earlier this month, said that all his visits to the neighbouring country were “goodwill visits”. “My visits are always goodwill visits because China is the future and all of the East will work with China,” he said. Talking about China’s Global Governance Initiative, he said: “Global governance means that I cannot walk into any other country nor any other country [can] walk into me. They have to be respectful about my territory, I shall be respectful of their territory.” He said that he was bringing international goodwill and the Pakistani people’s goodwill, as well as the assurance that “we stand with China in good times and bad times”. “Not that I see China going through a bad time, but even then, we are there, in case [we are] needed,” he asserted. A...

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif have extended heartfelt felicitations to the government and the people of the People's Republic of China on their seventy-sixth National Day.

China kicked off a new visa programme on Wednesday to attract foreign talent in science and technology. This is part of ongoing efforts to position itself as a world leader in those sectors ahead of the United States. The Chinese measure, announced in August, starkly contrasts with recent US policy, with the Trump administration suddenly introducing new and expensive changes to its skilled worker visas last month. China’s new K visa significantly simplifies the immigration process for those eligible, according to state media. “Against the backdrop of some countries retracting, turning inward, and sidelining international talent, China has keenly seized this important opportunity and promptly introduced this policy,” state newspaper People’s Daily said in a comment piece on Tuesday. In contrast to many other visa categories, the K visa does not require a domestic employer or entity to invite the applicant. “K visas will offer more convenience to holders in terms of the number of permitted entries, validity per...

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has extended heartfelt congratulations to the leadership, Communist Party, and people of China on the 76th National Day of the People’s Republic of China, reiterating Pakistan’s commitment to the historic and strategic partnership between the two nations.

China has once again affirmed its unwavering support and friendship with Pakistan by extending timely humanitarian assistance for the flood-affected people.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government has welcomed the recent stance by Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan against the establishment of foreign military bases in and around Afghanistan. This position was affirmed in a joint statement released after foreign ministers from the four countries met on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York. They emphasised respect for Afghanistan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and said re-establishment of foreign military bases is “not conducive to regional peace and security.” According to Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesperson for the Taliban government, his country not only welcomed the stance of the four countries but said that “Afghanistan will not allow its territory to be used against other countries, nor permit armed groups to operate from its soil.” While the joint statement did not refer to any specific country seeking bases in Afghanistan, it follows one by US President Donald Trump where he said Washington was trying to get...

China’s former minister for agriculture and rural affairs was sentenced to death with reprieve for bribery at a court in Jilin province on Sunday, according to state-run news agency Xinhua. Tang took bribes, including cash and property worth over 268 million yuan ($37.6 million) in various positions held from 2007 to 2024, Xinhua said. The Changchun Intermediate People’s Court suspended his death sentence for two years, noting he had confessed to his crimes, it added. China’s Communist Party expelled Tang in November 2024, six months after he was placed under investigation by the anti-graft watchdog and removed from his post. Tang’s investigation was unusually swift and followed similar investigations into Defence Minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor Wei Fenghe. President Xi Jinping started a campaign of purges of China’s domestic security apparatus in 2020, seeking to ensure police, prosecutors, and judges are “absolutely loyal, absolutely pure and absolutely reliable”. Tang was governor of the western pr...

ISLAMABAD - The Government of China has announced an additional package of flood relief supplies worth 100 million yuan RMB to further support Pakistan’s ongoing efforts in disaster relief and post-flood reconstruction.

The Government of China has announced an additional package of flood relief supplies worth 100 million RMB to further support Pakistan’s ongoing efforts in disaster relief and post-flood reconstruction.

GILGIT - Yunnan Forestry Technological College (YFTC), China, will host 40 students from Karakoram International University (KIU), Pakistan for a year-long program in forestry and agriculture.

Typhoon Ragasa, the world’s most powerful tropical cyclone this year, barreled towards tens of millions of people in southern China on Wednesday after killing 14 people in Taiwan, leaving scores missing and lashing Hong Kong with ferocious winds and heavy rains. Some 129 people are missing in Taiwan’s eastern Hualien county, after a barrier lake overflowed and sent a wall of water into a town, the Taiwan fire department said on Wednesday, with Ragasa’s outer rim having drenched the island since Monday. Many residents in the tourist town of Guangfu complained there was insufficient warning from Taiwan authorities, who are used to moving people out of potential danger zones swiftly on the island, which is frequently hit by typhoons. As rains inundated Taiwan, Hong Kong grappled with huge waves that crashed over areas of the Asian financial hub’s eastern and southern shoreline, breaking into white-water streams as they rushed along pavements and submerged some roads alongside residential properties. At the Fulle...

ISLAMABAD - Ambassador of People’s Republic of China Jiang Zaidong has said that China is willing to work with Pakistan to implement the important outcomes of President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit, advance the action plan to foster an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era (2025-2029).

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China has dispatched emergency aid to support Pakistan’s flood-hit communities, reaffirming Beijing’s role as a close ally in times of crisis.

China’s top internet regulator said Tuesday it would take action against ByteDance-owned news app Jinri Toutiao and Alibaba’s internet browser company UCWeb for allegedly displaying harmful content, a day after announcing a two-month social media crackdown. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) vowed on Monday to combat content containing “malicious incitement of conflict” and “negative outlooks on life such as world-weariness”. Beijing requires social media companies to moderate content on their platforms, with posts strictly controlled to avoid anything deemed to be too subversive, vulgar, pornographic or generally harmful. The CAC had already announced penalties this month against three popular digital platforms — micro-blogging platform Weibo, short video app Kuaishou and Instagram-like Xiaohongshu — for allegedly neglecting content management duties. Authorities have not specified what punitive actions are being taken against those platforms. The CAC said Tuesday that measures taken against news a...

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari’s just concluded visit to China has reaffirmed the enduring depth of Pakistan-China friendship, as both sides pledged to expand cooperation in trade, industry, agriculture, and cultural exchanges during high-level engagements in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.