Pakistan expects new Chinese ambassador to multiply business, boost CPEC
Gwadar Pro
Islamabad: Pakistan expects the incoming Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong to multiply the existing bilateral trade and business ties and further boost the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) being a known expert, officials said.
Senior Pakistani government officials told the Gwadar Pro that Pakistan was optimistic the new envoy will set new goals as he takes charge in Islamabad.
“Ambassador Yao Jing (who completed his tenure in Pakistan) played a wonderful role and his term is success from all angles. Now Ambassador Nong Rong is coming and we are expecting him to focus on trade, business and CPEC,” said a close aide of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Nong Rong, Head of Ethnic Affairs Commission of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has been nominated as the new envoy. Nong Rong once worked in the office of the Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Department, the ASEAN countries and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Divisions of the Department of Commerce of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. He served as Assistant Secretary-General of the Secretariat of the China-ASEAN Expo.
Nong Rong is an expert in trade and commerce. One of his main aims will be to promote the CPEC under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Chinese embassy officials in Islamabad told Gwadar Pro that the new envoy was expected to arrive in October. “It depends on flights. He is likely to take charge in the upcoming month (October),” said a Chinese diplomat.
Nong Rong is not the only political or non-career diplomat appointee. In the 1950s, General Geng Biao too was a political appointee when Chairman Mao sent him as the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan. Known as the chief architect of China-Pakistan relations, General Geng Biao – arrived in Pakistan when General Ayub Khan was in power.
Chairman Mao had reportedly asked Geng Biao about opening a new route to China from its western borders into Pakistan. He is famously quoted as saying: “Look after Pakistan. It is China’s window to the west.”
The idea was well received in Pakistan and eventually led to the construction of the Karakoram Highway, passing through Azad Jammu Kashmir.
Majority of the Pakistanis are convinced the ‘all-weather friend’ and Iron Brother has always helped Pakistan come out of crises.
The CPEC is a beneficial connection among Pakistan, China and the Central Asian countries with highway connecting Kashgar to Khunjerab and Gwadar. In southern Pakistan, Gwadar Port will serve as the trade nerve centre.
Pakistan-China ties are not limited to CPEC. Last month, State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi and the Foreign Minister of Pakistan Shah Mehmood Qureshi held the second Round of China-Pakistan FMs Strategic Dialogue in the Chinese Hainan Province.
The two sides exchanged views on COVID-19 pandemic, Pakistan-China bilateral relations, and international and regional issues of mutual interest, and reached consensus to collectively take measures to safeguard their common interests and promote peace, prosperity, and development in the region.
Both sides agreed that Pakistan and China had stood in solidarity and worked together since the COVID-19 outbreak by timely sharing of experiences relating to the prevention and control of the virus, mutual support in providing medical materials, and have set an example for the international community to jointly fight the pandemic.
They pledged to further strengthen cooperation in developing a vaccine to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic and strive to promote the establishment of the China-Pakistan Community of Shared Future and Community of Common Health.
Another Pakistani government official said Pakistanis took every Chinese ambassador as brother not diplomat. “Nong Rong will be treated as our brother as was Yao Jing. This is our policy for all the times to come. We know Nong Rong is an expert and will help boost the trade, business and will also look after the CPEC well,” he remarked.
