Pak PM Khan arrives in Beijing to attend Winter Olympics ceremony, meet Chinese leadership

Beijing, Feb 3: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived here on Thursday on a four-day visit with a huge delegation to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing and hold talks with the country's top leadership, including President Xi Jinping. Khan will be among more than 30 leaders attending the opening ceremony of the fortnight-long Winter Olympics to be opened by President Xi on Friday.

His visit also marks the culmination of celebrations commemorating the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between two all-weather allies. Khan landed with a large high-level delegation, comprising Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, Planning Minister Asad Umar, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, National Security Advisor Moeed Yousaf, Commerce Advisor Abdul Razak Dawood and Special Assistant on China- Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Khalid Mansoor. Besides attending the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Khan will meet President Xi and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. During the meeting, the two leaderships would discuss ways to promote bilateral trade and economic cooperation, particularly under the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework, besides the regional and international affairs, according to Pakistan state-run APP news agency.

India has protested to China over the CPEC as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK). Besides the virtual interactions with the prominent Chinese business leaders, top think-tanks, intellectuals and the media, other bilateral meetings are also on Khan's agenda for the visit. This is Khan's fourth visit to China as he paid last visit in October 2019. Prior to his visit, Khan has ordered the removal of red tape hindering Chinese investment in Pakistan, ordering "the removal of 37 regulations to ensure one-window operation for foreign investors," the report said.

In an article published in the Chinese media ahead of his visit, Khan said the security of the scores of Chinese personnel working in CPEC projects is Pakistan's top priority. Pakistan has approved an unprecedented USD 11.6 million in compensation for the families of Chinese engineers who were killed and wounded in a terrorist attack last year at the Dasu Dam hydropower project, according to Pakistan media reports.

"Safety and security of Chinese personnel and projects in Pakistan remains our top priority. Our people and state institutions are determined to safeguard CPEC from the detractors of Pakistan-China friendship and bring to justice those responsible for harming our interests," Khan said in his article. China currently has launched a diplomatic offensive to mobilise world leaders to attend the February 4 opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics as the US, EU and several western countries have announced a boycott of the event by their diplomats to highlight the alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang, including the incarceration of over a million Uygur Muslim men and women in camps.

China denies the allegations but defends the camps, describing the facilities as re-education centres aimed at de-radicalising sections of the Uyghur Muslim population from extremism and separatism campaign carried out by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM). Ahead of his visit Khan, the lone head of the government attending the event from South Asia, gave a clean chit to the Chinese government over the human rights allegations against Uygurs, saying that charges are found to be not true.

Indian diplomats in Beijing too would not attend the Friday event in protest against China's provocative move on Wednesday fielding Qi Fabao, the regimental commander of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), who was injured during the June 2020 border skirmish with Indian soldiers in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, as a torchbearer for the Games Torch Relay. PTI