Imran to discuss Kashmir situation, CPEC with Xi – Newspaper

ISLAMABAD: During his visit from October 8 to 9 to China, Prime Minister Imran Khan will meet with President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang in Beijing to discuss the security situation in the disputed Kashmir region, as well as the economic ties, his office said Monday.

"The visit will be essential to further consolidate Pakistan's economic, investment and strategic ties with China," said a statement from the prime minister's office.

"The prime minister will exchange views […] the state of peace and security in South Asia derived from the situation in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir. "

Tensions over Kashmir have increased dramatically since August 5, when New Delhi revoked the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, controlled by India. Pakistan expelled the ambassador from India and suspended bilateral trade shortly after, while Khan launched an international diplomacy campaign to condemn India's treatment of Kashmir. China, which also has a high-altitude, sparsely populated area of ​​Kashmir and has a long dispute over the border with India, called New Delhi's actions "unacceptable."

Army chief will join the prime minister to meet with the Chinese prime minister, president

According to a statement issued by Public Relations between Services, the media wing of Pakistan's armed forces, the Chief of the Army General Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, arrived in China on an official visit. "COAS will meet with the leadership of the Chinese militia, including the PLA Army Commander, Vice President of the Central Military Commission and Commander of the Southern Theater Command. COAS will also join the prime minister to meet with the Chinese prime minister and the president, ”said the ISPR.

Mr. Khan's visit will include talks on the progress of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the $ 60 billion infrastructure program that China launched as part of its flagship project "Belt and Road."

Some officials and observers have said that the momentum in CPEC projects is slowing down, in part due to concerns about the size of Pakistan's debt and the troubled economy, which led Islamabad to resort to the International Monetary Fund to A rescue package in July.

However, federal Minister of Planning, Development and Reform, Khusro Bakhtyar, at a press conference on Sunday denied that there had been a slowdown in CPEC projects. "(A narrative that they have become slow is being built; I reject it, it is totally wrong," he said.

The minister said: "There will be a significant commitment in all aspects of relations between Pakistan and China during the visit," and expressed the hope that it will take CPEC cooperation to new heights so that the benefits of Pakistan's economic progress can reach to people as soon as possible. He explained that the prime minister, Imran Khan, during his meetings with the president and the prime minister of China would take a series of projects, while the technical discussions would continue later this month at the joint working group level and then during the Committee Joint Coordination (JCC) meeting in November.

Bakhtyar said the visit to Beijing will include talks on Main Line-1 of Railways from Karachi to Lahore that had been in cold storage for the past five years, but the government decided to "initiate formal commitments for negotiations" on the project despite challenges of the external debt and the current account deficit. However, he stopped the questions if disputes within the government over the $ 8.5 billion price revision were resolved.

In the first phase, he said, Pakistan was offering China a 7,000MW Bunji hydroelectric project, which would be followed by other projects in the Indus waterfall.

Posted on Dawn, October 8, 2019