China’s Progress Has Lessons for Pakistan
The Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan praised China’s rapid development in his maiden speech after winning the election held on July 25, 2018. He said he wanted to learn two things from China. One was Chinese experience of eradicating poverty. China pulled around 700 million people from poverty within the past four decades.
It is an unprecedented achievement in the history of humankind. The second thing Mr Khan wants to learn is China’s success on controlling corruption.
He admired the Chinese approach to fighting corruption that does not differentiate between a tiger or a fly. Nobody is above the law, whether it’s a high-profile official or common citizen both are treated equal in front of the law.
He has specifically constituted “China Unit” headed by one of his close aid Shahzad Waseem, who directly reports to him. The unit is powerful and in a position to take all necessary actions.
The unit is to deal with all affairs related to China, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
He is scheduled to visit China early in November on his first visit after taking charge of his office. However, he visited China in 2011 as chairman of his political party. Mr Khan has said at a high-level meeting that strengthening the allweather China-Pakistan strategic cooperative and all-dimension partnership is the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy.
He emphasised the early implementation of CPEC projects would help realize the true potential of China-Pakistan economic relations.
He believes that CPEC is beneficial not only for the two countries but for the entire region.