ISLAMABAD: China finds it "unacceptable" that its citizens have been targeted by terrorists in Pakistan twice in six months, Chinese ambassador Jiang Zaidong said at an event in Islamabad, striking a rare discordant note in public over seven Chinese casualties in suicide attacks since March.
The strain on bilateral relations came out in the open after Pakistan's deputy PM and foreign minister Ishaq Dar appeared to score an own goal by declaring that his country was the only one to which China would send its nationals despite harbouring security concerns.
"The Chinese are very clear — no matter how lucrative an investment opportunity arises anywhere, if there is a security issue, they do not send Chinese personnel. Your country is the only exception," Dar said, quoting Chinese authorities as telling their Pakistani counterparts at recent meetings.
He was speaking at a seminar this week organised by the Pakistan-China Institute, an independent Islamabad-based think tank.
Chinese envoy Jiang Zaidong, who was at the event, stood up to contradict Dar. "The security of Chinese citizens is paramount for President Xi (Jinping)," he said, adding that Beijing iterated its priorities during Xi's discussions with the Pakistan govt during his recent visit to the country.
He warned that violence targeting Chinese nationals was causing a rethink on Beijing's investments under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The diplomat stressed the need for Islamabad to take effective remedial measures to prevent the recurrence of such acts of terror acts.
In an official response Thursday, Pakistan's foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch termed the Chinese ambassador's statement "perplexing" and a stark departure from longstanding diplomatic norms governing bilateral ties.
The Chinese officials seldom chastise Islamabad for alleged security failings involving Chinese engineers and workers, and Pakistan’s public response to China’s criticism is also unprecedented. However, Beijing’s security concerns have been heightened by the recent increase in violence against Chinese people.
Earlier this month, two Chinese citizens were killed and 10 others wounded in a suicide attack near Karachi airport for which the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army later owned responsibility.
In March, five Chinese engineers died in a suicide bombing in the Besham region of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Twenty-one Chinese workers have been killed in Pakistan since the countries launched the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project a decade ago.
The strain on bilateral relations came out in the open after Pakistan's deputy PM and foreign minister Ishaq Dar appeared to score an own goal by declaring that his country was the only one to which China would send its nationals despite harbouring security concerns.
"The Chinese are very clear — no matter how lucrative an investment opportunity arises anywhere, if there is a security issue, they do not send Chinese personnel. Your country is the only exception," Dar said, quoting Chinese authorities as telling their Pakistani counterparts at recent meetings.
He was speaking at a seminar this week organised by the Pakistan-China Institute, an independent Islamabad-based think tank.
Chinese envoy Jiang Zaidong, who was at the event, stood up to contradict Dar. "The security of Chinese citizens is paramount for President Xi (Jinping)," he said, adding that Beijing iterated its priorities during Xi's discussions with the Pakistan govt during his recent visit to the country.
He warned that violence targeting Chinese nationals was causing a rethink on Beijing's investments under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The diplomat stressed the need for Islamabad to take effective remedial measures to prevent the recurrence of such acts of terror acts.
In an official response Thursday, Pakistan's foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch termed the Chinese ambassador's statement "perplexing" and a stark departure from longstanding diplomatic norms governing bilateral ties.
The Chinese officials seldom chastise Islamabad for alleged security failings involving Chinese engineers and workers, and Pakistan’s public response to China’s criticism is also unprecedented. However, Beijing’s security concerns have been heightened by the recent increase in violence against Chinese people.
Earlier this month, two Chinese citizens were killed and 10 others wounded in a suicide attack near Karachi airport for which the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army later owned responsibility.
In March, five Chinese engineers died in a suicide bombing in the Besham region of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Twenty-one Chinese workers have been killed in Pakistan since the countries launched the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project a decade ago.
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