China condemns bombing of Pakistan hotel hosting ambassador
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson has condemned Wednesday’s powerful car bomb explosion at a hotel where the Chinese ambassador is understood to be staying in Quetta in south-west Pakistan.
At least five people were killed and 12 injured in the attack. A spokesman, Wang Wenbin, said the Chinese ambassador and his team were not in the hotel when the blast happened, and that no Chinese citizens were hurt.
“[We] believe the Pakistani side will bring the assailants to justice,” Wang said. “China will continue to resolutely support Pakistan’s anti-terror effort … and promote regional peace and stability, and ensure the safety of Chinese personnel and organisations.”
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Thursday that he was ‘deeply saddened’ by the loss of innocent lives. “Our nation has made great sacrifices in defeating terrorism and we will not to allow this scourge to rise again,” he said in a tweet.
Wednesday’s incident took place in the car park of the Serena, a luxury hotel that is part of a Pakistan-wide chain. Quetta is the capital of Balochistan province, where the military has been fighting a decade-long lowlevel insurgency.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing, which it said was a suicide attack using a car filled with explosives.
While officials say they are still in the process of determining the attackers’ motives, initial reports suggested that China’s envoy was the target.
The Chinese ambassador, Nong Rong, had earlier in the day met the provincial chief minister, Jam Kamal Khan, in the city, according to a tweet from the provincial government spokesman, Liaquat Shahwani.
The provincial home minister, Ziaullah Lango, told reporters: “I just met him. He is in high spirits,” adding the envoy would complete his visit to Quetta on Thursday.
Balochistan is poor despite its natural resources – a source of great anger to residents, who complain they do not receive a fair share of the gas and mineral wealth. In recent years it has become a strategically important part of the country for China, where Beijing invests heavily through its China-Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC) project.
Resentment has been fuelled by billions of dollars of Chinese money flowing into the region through the project – a key part of China’s Belt and Road initiative – which opponents say gave locals little benefit as most new jobs went to outsiders.
Wednesday’s attack has also reignited concerns over the security of China’s Belt and Road initiative in the South Asian country. A government minister, however, insists that this incident “will not change the ground reality that it’s safe [for Chinese companies] to invest in Pakistan.”
“CPEC is a non-negotiable flagship and [is] here to stay,” Fawad Chaudhry, federal minister for information and broadcasting told the Guardian. “We understand fully that those who don’t want it to succeed will try to sabotage, but Pakistan-China understanding is so strong that they can’t succeed.”
“China has always helped us as and when needed,” he added.
In 2019 gunmen stormed a luxury hotel overlooking a flagship CPEC project, the deep-water seaport in Gwadar that critics say gives China strategic access to the Arabian Sea, killing at least eight people.
And in June, Baloch insurgents targeted the Pakistan stock exchange, which is partly owned by Chinese companies.
All the attacks were claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army.
The latest incident comes after more than a week of violent anti-France protests led by an extremist party based in the eastern city of Lahore.