LAHORE: Chinese diplomat Peng Zhengwu calls for a new philosophy and a fairer and more reasonable world order to check the threats to global and regional security in the wake of post-cold war thinking, rising unilateralism and Covid-19.
The acting Consul General of Lahore was speaking at a seminar on Chinese success in poverty alleviation held here on Sunday, attended by scholars, academicians, analysts and others. He said that China witnessed a transformative change under the Communist Party leadership over the past 72 years weathering all odds. He said that Beijing would continue to propel the CPEC forward and that irrespective of the changes in international scenario, China and Pakistan have always joined hands to forge ahead.
Peng said that he found Lahore a city of knowledge and thinkers, hoping that events would be held in the near future to harvest this talent of the Punjab capital.
Institute of International Relations president Muhammad Mehdi lamented at slow pace being shown by the incumbent government's lukewarm response to various CPEC projects. He said that work on the railways ML-1, the main project of the CPEC, could not be executed yet while its cost has gone up by 50 percent.
Claiming that checking speed of work on CPEC was the agenda of the US, he regretted that the government is yet to give national policy on special economic zones.
He chided Federal Minister Asad Umar's statement that Dasu dam project was not under CPEC and thus security for those working on it was not as tight as promised for CPEC's. He said due to such an attitude thousands of Chinese businessmen who visited Pakistan during the last couple of years never returned to invest here. Likewise, he said no foreign direct investment was coming from the West. He feared that whatever India was getting from the US and the West in the garb of security pacts would be used against Pakistan and not China.
Former additional foreign secretary Nazir Hussain said that unlike China, which has assigned 40 universities to work on various aspects of the Belt and Road Initiative, Pakistan has not engaged its universities for the CPEC.
He called for promoting e-commerce, and like China training the youth in latest technologies in the 25-30 years window available to utilize the present youth bulge otherwise it would become a burden on the national economy.
Dr Qais Aslam counted main pillars behind China's success in development and lamented that Islamabad did not build internal capacity to harvest CPEC benefits, while this mega development project was the only way forward for Pakistan.
Dr Amanullah lauded the patience being shown by Beijing for rising China and for investing on its human resource seriously with sustainable economic policies. He snubbed the notion that China wanted hegemony over or a cold war with the West.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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