Pakistan's Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has confirmed to have arrived in China on Sunday for his three-day official visit as per the nation's army press agency statement. Bajwa's arrival is said to be in line with the recent issue regarding China's Silk Road projects in Pakistan.
The high-ranking Pakistan military official was the first of his rank to visit China since the new Prime Minister Imran Khan took office last month.
As cited by the Pakistan-based media outlet, Tribune, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed via Twitter on Sunday that the army chief has touched down on Beijing on a three-day official visit.
According to the news outfit, Bajwa will be meeting with various Chinese leaders including his counterpart.
Prior to the COAS' Beijing trip, China's top diplomat, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, met with Bajwa to discuss the issue of peace and security in the region as well as matters of mutual interest which include the country's support for President Xi Jinping's China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
CPEC is a portfolio of infrastructure projects currently undergoing throughout Pakistan with the majority of the funding coming from the Chinese government. As of April, the projects, which were originally valued at USD$46 billion, is now worth USD$62 billion.
Bajwa reiterated during his meeting with the Chinese ambassador that CPEC would be the economic future of Pakistan which is why Islamabad won't compromise on its security.
Sino-Pakistan Relations
Pakistan's burgeoning relationship with China follows after the Islamic nation's ties with the United States frayed in the recent years.
One of Bajwa's immediate concerns in Beijing is to smoothen out any misunderstandings which may have occurred after Pakistan's commerce minister, Abdul Razak Dawood, made comments about CPEC last week, according to Reuters.
As revealed by the news outlet, the minister proposed to suspend the projects for a year. In an interview, Dawood said that the CPEC contracts were negotiated unfairly by the previous government. As such, the finance authority implied that the deals favored the Chinese more.
Dawod, later on, backtracked on his comments saying that the press may have only taken his statement out of context.
CPEC holds akin to Xi Jinping's much-larger China's Belt and Road Initiative (or the Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative) which, as explained in previous reports, is an intercontinental development strategy by Beijing that seeks to promote trade and economic cooperation in the countries lying between the Eurasian region.
