China | Pakistan

The Foreign Office (FO) on Friday reiterated that Pakistan regarded Taiwan as an inalienable part of China. The statement from FO spokesperson Tahir Andrabi came in response to media queries seeking Pakistan’s response to “developments in the Taiwan Strait”. “Pakistan and China are iron-clad friends and all-weather strategic cooperative partners. We reiterate our consistent support to China on all matters of its core interests, including Taiwan,“ he said. “We will continue to adhere to the One-China principle and regard Taiwan as an inalienable part of China,” he said. The FO spokesperson had made similar remarks during yesterday’s weekly press briefing in response to a question regarding the sale of arms to Taiwan by the United States. China claims Taiwan as its own territory, while Taiwan rejects China’s claims. Although the statement released by the FO on Friday did not make a specific mention of the exact developments it was referring to, it comes after China completed military drills around Taiwan that i...

NEW DELHI: India’s opposition Congress party said on Wedne­s­day it was concerned by Beijing’s claims on helping broker the India-Pakistan truce after the military flare-up in May and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify the issue. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday that the conflict between India and Pakistan in May was among the contentious matters mediated by Beijing in 2025. India has repeatedly rejected claims made by US President Donald Trump that Washington had mediated the ceasefire. India’s Ministry of External Affairs has not reacted to the claim made by Mr Wang. But it has maintained that the ceasefire with Islamabad was not the result of mediation. The decision to stop the firing was taken after the Pakistani director general of military operations had called his Indian counterpart, New Delhi has said. “China’s claims of mediating betw­een India and Pakistan are concerning — not just because they contradict what has been told to the country’s people so far, but also because ...

China launched missiles and deployed dozens of fighter aircraft and navy vessels around Taiwan on Tuesday for a second day of live-fire drills aimed at simulating a blockade of the self-ruled island’s key ports and assaults on maritime targets. Taipei, which slammed the two-day war games as “highly provocative and reckless”, claimed the manoeuvre failed to impose a blockade on the island. China claims Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory and has refused to rule out military action to seize the island. AFP journalists in Pingtan, a Chinese island at the closest point to Taiwan’s main island, saw a volley of rockets blast into the air at around 9:00am (6am PKT) on Tuesday, leaving trails of white smoke. At least 10 were launched in quick succession, sending a booming sound reverberating across the sky and drawing tourists towards the seafront to snap photos and videos on their phones. Taiwanese authorities counted 27 rockets fired by Chinese forces on Tuesday. A Taiwanese Air Force Mirage 2000 fighter jet ...

China’s military moved army, naval, air force and artillery units around Taiwan on Monday for its “Justice Mission 2025” drills, as the island vowed to defend democracy and mobilised troops to rehearse repelling a potential Chinese attack. The Eastern Theatre Command announced the drills will involve live-fire exercises on Tuesday, in a statement containing a graphic demarcating five zones surrounding the island that will be under sea and air space restrictions for 10 hours from 8am (5am PKT). This marks China’s sixth major round of war games since 2022 after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the democratically governed island, and follows a rise in Chinese rhetoric over Beijing’s territorial claims after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo. The exercises began 11 days after the United States announced $11.1 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, the largest ever weapons package for the island, drawing a prote...

ISLAMABAD - The fourth Hangor class submarine of Pakistan Navy named GHAZI has been launched at Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group Company Ltd, Shuangliu Base at Wuhan, China.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China are conducting joint coun-terterrorism exercise Warrior-IX from 28 November to 14 December 2025.

Troops from Pakistan and China are conducting a two-week long counter-terrorism exercise to “enhance interoperability and strengthen military-to-military cooperation between the two countries”, said the military’s media wing on Thursday. “Pakistan Army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China are conducting joint counterterrorism exercise Warrior-IX from 28 November to 14 December 2025,” said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). A ‘Distinguished Visitors Day’ was also held today during the drills at the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) Pabbi. In attendance were the Ambassador of China to Pakistan, Jiang Zaidong, as the chief guest and Pakistan Army’s chief of general staff as the guest of honour. Senior dignitaries from China accompanied Zaidong. “Honourable guests were briefed on the scope, objectives, and conduct of the joint exercise during the visit. They witnessed various counter-terrorism drills and appreciated the professionalism, operational competence, and high morale demonstrat...

ISLAMABAD - Professor Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, distributed 1,000 winter blankets donated by China among flood-affected villagers in Narowal, saying the support reflects the “enduring bond between Pakistan and China”.

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday chaired a high-level meeting to review progress in the province’s agriculture sector, where Punjab and China signed several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) aimed at modernisation, technology transfer and enhanced research collaboration.

The United States will allow Nvidia’s H200 processors, its second-best artificial intelligence chips, to be exported to China and collect a 25 per cent fee on such sales, US President Donald Trump said on Monday. The decision appears to settle a US debate about whether Nvidia and rivals should maintain their global lead in AI chips by selling to China or withhold the exports, though Beijing has told companies not to use US technology, leaving it unclear whether Trump’s decision would lead to new sales. Nvidia shares rose 2pc in after-hours trading after Trump made the announcement on Truth Social, following a 3pc rise during the day on a report by Semafor. Trump said in his post that he had informed President Xi Jinping of China, where Nvidia’s chips are under government scrutiny, about the move and that he “responded positively.” He said the US Commerce Department was finalising details of the arrangement and the same approach would apply to other AI chip firms such as Advanced Micro Devices and Intel. Trump...

KARACHI - China has donated 58 solar-powered street lights to Karachi, in what officials described as a small but practical boost to the city’s public safety and local infrastructure.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday reiterated its unwavering solidarity with China during a meeting between Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

China is ready to work with Pakistan to organically integrate the country’s development plans and the action plan on building a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, Chinese Ambassador in Islamabad Jiang Zaidong said on Wednesday. Pakistan and China share a longstanding strategic partnership with ties that span various sectors, including trade, energy, defence, and infrastructure. Ambassador Jiang was speaking at the Policy Dialogue on “Redefining Regional Connectivity: Pakistan-China Friendship in the New Geo-Economic Paradigm.” “Guided by the important consensus of our leaders, centered on building a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, using the advancement of CPEC 2.0 as a platform, and focusing on deepening cooperation in industry, agriculture, and mining, we will continuously consolidate, deepen, and expand our all-round partnership,” the Chinese envoy said while speaking via video link. He said the approach will tangibly serve the modernisa...

India has issued a demarche to China after a woman from Arunachal Pradesh alleged that she was detained at the Shanghai airport by immigration officials for 18 hours, who “mocked” her and said that the territory was not part of India, according to Indian media. China says Arunachal Pradesh is a part of South Tibet — a claim India has repeatedly dismissed. Beijing has renamed places in the northeastern Himalayan state multiple times, prompting strong reactions from New Delhi. The woman, named Pema Wangjom Thongdok, said in yesterday’s interview to ANI that she was an Indian citizen residing in the United Kingdom for about 14 years. Thongdok said she was travelling from London to Japan’s Osaka via Shanghai on November 21, when Chinese authorities held her back for 18 hours. Detailing her “very long ordeal”, Thongdok alleged that Chinese immigration officials at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport declared her visa as “not acceptable” and her Indian passport as invalid. She further said the officials “mock...

China claims Taiwan and won’t rule out force, but the island says only its people can decide their future.

Air India is lobbying the Indian government to convince China to let it use a sensitive military airspace zone in Xinjiang to shorten routes as the financial toll from a ban on Indian carriers flying over Pakistan mounts, a company document shows. The unusual request comes just weeks after direct India-China flights resumed after a five-year hiatus following a Himalayan border clash between the nations. Air India has been seeking to rebuild its reputation and international network after a London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed in Gujarat in June, killing 260 people and forcing it to briefly cut flights for safety checks. But that effort is being complicated by the closure of Pakistan airspace to Indian carriers since diplomatic tensions erupted in late April. For Air India, the country’s only carrier with a major international network, fuel costs have risen by as much as 29 per cent and journey times by up to three hours on some long-haul routes, according to the previously unreported document submitted t...

Country to boost counter-terror tie-up with China

Air India said on Monday it will resume New Delhi-China flights beginning from February 2026, nearly six years after suspension, as recent diplomatic steps are seen as cautiously reopening bilateral links. The carrier was also planning to launch a Mumbai-Shanghai route later next year, subject to regulatory approvals, it said. “The reinstatement of Air India’s services to Shanghai follows recent India-China diplomatic agreements that restored the air links paused in early 2020,” Air India said in a statement. China’s Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport last month announced flights between the two nations were set to resume. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China earlier this year, for the first time in seven years, to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation regional security bloc. Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that India and China were development partners, not rivals, and discussed ways to strengthen trade ties amid global tariff uncertainty. Last month, budget ...

UNITED NATIONS: Senior UN diplomats are cautiously optimistic that China and Russia may abstain rather than veto a US-sponsored Security Council resolution to authorise an international stabilisation force (ISF) in Gaza — a key test of the UN’s ability to back a postceasefire vision for the enclave, according to diplomatic sources. The draft resolution is expected to come up for vote in the UN Security Council on Monday, and would take effect if it secures at least nine affirmative votes and avoids a veto from any of the five permanent members (the US, China, Russia, Britain and France). “China will not veto the resolution, but Russia’s position is uncertain, and key as well,” said one senior diplomat. Another added, “both China and Russia may abstain, but they will not use their veto.” The draft resolution, formally circulated by the US, would authorise a two-year mandate for a transitional body called the Board of Peace, chaired by President Donald Trump, as proposed in his 20-point Gaza plan. It would also...

India’s air force chief made the inaugural landing of a military transport aircraft at a new airbase capable of fighter jet operations close to the disputed Himalayan border with China, a defence official said on Thursday. The move comes amid a thaw in ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours, following a milestone pact last October to ease military tension along their de facto border and a visit this year to China by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Air Chief Marshal AP Singh landed the C-130J aircraft on Wednesday at the Mudh-Nyoma air force station in Ladakh, perched at a height of about 4,000m, added the official, who sought anonymity as the matter is a sensitive one. The Indian Air Force and the defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The new airbase, the region’s third such key station, is just 30 kilometres from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. “This new airfield in Ladakh, capable of fighter operations, will add a new challenge for both of our adversari...