- Title: China praises Pakistan for securing economic corridor
- Date: 29th September 2016
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (SEPTEMBER 29, 2016) (REUTERS) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN, GENG SHUANG, WALKING IN FOR REGULAR BRIEFING PHOTOGRAPHER TAKING PHOTOS WHILE OTHER MEDIA SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN, GENG SHUANG, SAYING: "We pay high attention to the corridor's safety, and appreciate Pakistan's great efforts in securing the corridor and Chinese personnel and institutions in Pakistan. (We) believe Pakistan will strengthen its guard against risks to projects and continue to provide a security guarantee for Chinese personnel and projects in Pakistan." BRIEFING IN PROGRESS EXTERIOR OF CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY CHINESE NATIONAL FLAG FLYING
- Embargoed: 14th October 2016 10:59
- Keywords: China economic corridor Pakistan security
- Location: BEIJING, CHINA
- City: BEIJING, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00151MCPXH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday (September 29) it appreciated Pakistan's efforts to secure the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), after a major Pakistani rebel group threatened to attack the trade route.
"We pay high attention to the corridor's safety, and appreciate Pakistan's great efforts in securing the corridor and Chinese personnel and institutions in Pakistan. (We) believe Pakistan will strengthen its guard against risks to projects and continue to provide a security guarantee for Chinese personnel and projects in Pakistan," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a regular briefing in Beijing.
The elusive leader of the group fighting for independence in Pakistan's Baluchistan province said he would welcome cash and other help from India, words that likely alarmed Islamabad which accuses New Delhi of stirring trouble there.
In his first video interview in five years, Allah Nazar Baloch, head of the ethnic Baluch group Baluchistan Liberation Front (BLF), also vowed further attacks on a Chinese economic corridor, parts of which run through the resource-rich province.
China's investment in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has brought fresh focus on Baluchistan, which is endowed with rich but largely unexploited reserves of copper and gold.
Several planned CPEC routes will snake across Baluchistan to its deep-sea port in Gwadar.
Baloch, speaking from an undisclosed location, called CPEC a Chinese "imperialistic scheme," and vowed to attack roads, security personnel and construction crews associated with it.
Pakistan government officials say security has improved.
They point to freshly-paved CPEC roads, built at breakneck speed despite Baluchistan's rugged terrain, as proof of success.
To allay Chinese fears, Pakistan is also raising a force of 15,000 personnel, mainly serving army soldiers, to secure the corridor.
The planned $46 billion trade route is expected to link western China with Pakistan's Arabian Sea via a network of roads, railways and energy pipelines.
Frontier Works Organization, the army-run company building most of the CPEC roads in dangerous areas, said 44 workers had been killed and about 100 wounded in attacks on its CPEC sites over the past two years. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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