Trade accords with China

The 50-member visiting Trade Mission from China signed agreements with 15 Pakistani companies July 19, paradoxically the day a deadly suicide blast was aimed at Chinese workers at Hub Chowki in Balochistan. It is, however, just another matter that providentially missing the Chinese the explosion killed a number Pakistanis.
Needless to point out, the terrorist onslaught could have smashed the very purpose behind the Chinese Mission's visit. Exemplary as Sino-Pak relationship has proved to be down the decades, from a sincere belief in peaceful co-existence among nations, it will appear that on their part the Chinese showed no reluctance in proceeding with the task they had undertaken. This was exactly what was expected of them.
Firm believers as they are in the philosophy of co-existence, it was this very urge that motivated them to strike a balance in bilateral trade with Pakistan. The balance of trade being markedly in their favour, little wonder, in order to allay the dismay likely to be caused to Pakistanis, they sent a mission to redress the situation.
Heavy imports from China in our country in a widening range at competitive prices, have created a near-crisis in the industrial sector. Since they could neither raise their prices nor divert their exports away from Pakistan, the only way of striking a balance in mutual trade was to increase their imports from Pakistan.
This should make it understandable why they sent a large mission, headed by China's Assistant Commerce Minister Wang Chao, to make purchases from Pakistan. The accords concluded provide for import of cotton, chrome ore, marbles, leather, celestite, guar gum and rapeseed meal. Significantly, the members of the delegation placed on-the-spot purchase orders for Pakistani products too, in a total deal of one billion dollars.
It may be recalled that during his China visit last year, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had raised the issue of Pakistan's adverse trade balance, responding to which the Chinese leadership had assured that to rectify it they would dispatch a purchase mission to Pakistan.
The visit of a strong business delegation last month bears ample testimony to the depth and direction of the two countries' relationship. So much so that the China has remained undeterred by regular targeting of its nationals by militants.
According to one estimate some 5,000 Chinese are engaged in China-funded development and engineering projects. That the latest suicide attack planned against Chinese workers at Hub Chowki was ill conceived should become evident from Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam's prompt comment that while relations with the Chinese are vital for Pakistan, somebody appears to want to damage them.
China told Pakistan earlier last month to beef up security for its citizens after three Chinese workers were shot dead in Peshawar apparently in retaliation for a government operation against Lal Masjid in Islamabad.
That crackdown, as will be noted, was mounted after the kidnapping of seven Chinese from an acupuncture clinic in the capital by the Madressa students. Other earlier attacks on Chinese nationals in Balochistan had been claimed by separatist, non-Islamic tribal militants.
The deadly series started with May 2004 car bomb blamed on the militants that killed three Chinese engineers working at a Beijing-funded deepsea port in Gwadar. Two years later three Chinese engineers were shot dead in the same region. Later that year al Qaeda-linked militants led by a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner kidnapped two Chinese engineers working on a dam in the tribal region of South Waziristan.
There has also been speculation about the involvement of the intelligence agencies of India in some attacks. Notwithstanding all this, speaking at the mini exhibition "Made in Pakistan," the leader of the Chinese Mission, Wang Chao averred that his country attaches high importance to Pakistan's trade and commercial relations, hoping that their visit would help increase Pakistani exports to China. Now on our part we should spare no effort to ensure the security of all Chinese nationals working on our development projects.