XI SNUBS SHARIF BY SKIPPING BILATERAL MEET AT SCO SUMMIT

Chinese President Xi Jinping skipped a customary meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the SCO summit in Astana after the murder of two Chinese teachers in Balochistan, a move seen as a rare snub to allweather ally Pakistan.

Sharif returned from Astana after attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, on the sidelines of which he met Presidents of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Russia.

Conspicuously absent was a meeting with Xi.

Chinese state-run media highlighted Xi’s meetings with Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Xi’s snub followed deep disappointment and grief among Chinese public over the slaying of two Chinese citizens who were kidnapped last month from Quetta in Balochistan.

The two were murdered by Islamic State militants. The news of their murders was made public ahead of the SCO summit.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Friday that the murders were no way connected to the $50 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which was opposed by the Baloch nationalists.

A CHINESE MAN AND A WOMAN WERE KIDNAPPED FROM QUETTA IN MAY, AND ISIS SAID THEY WERE BEHIND THEIR ABDUCTION AND SUBSEQUENT MURDER.