Chinese President Xi Jinping met Pakistani President Arif Alvi in Beijing on Tuesday, and said China will continue to offer help to Pakistan to combat COVID-19 and the locust plague. The two sides agreed to move forward with the construction of the CPEC as a high quality demonstration project of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Pakistani government and all sectors of society have donated their own supplies to China for COVID-19 prevention and control, for which China is deeply grateful, Xi said in a meeting with Alvi in Beijing on Tuesday after Pakistan donated to China its inventory masks in hospitals nationwide on February 1.

Alvi was on a two-day visit to China at Xi's invitation.

China and Pakistan are true friends and good brothers sharing weal and woe, Xi said. 

Amid the global COVID-19 outbreak, Xi said that countries should cooperate to fight the COVID-19 and China will continue to offer help to Pakistan. 

China-Pakistan relations will be seen as a fine example for building a community with a shared future for mankind, Xi said.

He said China and Pakistan should actively move forward the cooperation projects in key areas, and make the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) a high-quality demonstration project for the Belt and Road Initiative. 

China will also continue to help Pakistan fight the locust plague, Xi said.

Alvi said China's experience in combating COVID-19 has provided a strong reference for other countries, and some forces using the COVID-19 epidemic to stigmatize and isolate China will not succeed.

Pesticides and spray machines to help Pakistan tackle locust plague and test kits for COVID-19 were about to sent to Karachi from Pudong airport in Shanghai early Monday: Photo: courtesy of Shanghai Eastern Airlines.

Alvi expressed gratitude for China's help and said Pakistan would like to continue its support on issues concerning China's core interests, deepen cooperation with China, build the CPEC, and continue the joint counter-terrorism cooperation with China.

The two leaders also witnessed the signing of various agreements and Memorandums of Understanding (MOU), and the two sides issued a joint declaration on deepening their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who joined Alvi, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview in Beijing on Tuesday that they chose this time to visit China in particular to show solidarity with the people of China as China battles the COVID-19.

Alvi is among several foreign leaders who have traveled to China since the COVID-19 outbreak. Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga visited Beijing in February.

Pakistan has been witnessing a nearly two-fold increase in its confirmed COVID-19 cases in the past days, with the number of patients rising to 121 on Monday from 52 on Sunday. 

Qureshi said China has sent test kits and medical teams, and has helped upgrade quarantine facilities in Pakistan to combat the coronavirus, and Pakistan expects personnel protective equipment and portable ventilators. 

Qureshi said the two sides will also go ahead with full speed on CPEC projects, and CPEC's future is very promising as it is not just for Pakistan and China, "the entire region stands to benefit from this project."

Yasir Masood, an Islamabad-based political analyst, told the Global Times on Tuesday that while many countries are shying away from helping each other due to the outbreak of COVID-19, cooperation between China and Pakistan at the time of uncertainties simply means, "a friend in need is a friend indeed."

Masood said that on the economic front, this visit holds a great importance especially when the world is under financial siege due to fears of COVID-19, both China and Pakistan are defining and deciding soaring economic ties for a continued cooperation.

This visit is setting to revive economic confidence between Beijing and Islamabad and both are committed to advancing the construction of CPEC which is a linchpin of the Belt and Road Initiative, Masood said.

He said that CPEC has already been viewed as a sole economic program which can fix Pakistan's economic and financial ills for good.

Chinese analysts said that the CPEC does not target a third party, as some Indian media hyped that China allied with Pakistan to counter India, but it instead benefits the third party and becomes an important driving force for regional integration. 

According to the website of the CPEC, CPEC will also have positive impact on Iran, Afghanistan, India and the region. The enhancement of geographical linkages having improved road, rail and air transportation system with frequent and free exchanges of growth and people-to-people contact, and the cooperation will result in well connected, integrated region of shared destiny, harmony and development. 

Qureshi said the MOUs include setting up of a joint working group on agriculture so that China can help Pakistan improve its agricultural productivity. And some MOUs will touch on science and technology. 

Aside from COVID-19, Pakistan also faces its worst locust plague in decades, which Qureshi said has the potential to destroy crops and threaten food security in Pakistan. 

Chinese experts believe the two sides are likely to expand health and agricultural cooperation using advanced technologies after China helps Pakistan fight the COVID-19 and locust plague. 


Newspaper headline: Alvi’s Beijing visit shows true friendship