ISLAMABAD: National Security Advisor, Lt. Gen. (Retd) Nasser Khan Janjua said on Monday that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) provided Pakistan a great opportunity to become a gateway for Central Asia and beyond. “We see a greater fortune here as Pakistan is going to become a gateway for the Central Asia and ultimately to Russia through this mega project”, Nasser Janjua said while addressing a meeting of Islamabad based senior members of the Supreme Central Committee of 101 Friends of China here.
The meeting was attended by intellectuals, economic experts, former ambassadors and former secretaries. Speaking as chief guest of the event, Gen Janjua said where there were opportunities, there were always challenges to be faced. General Janjua said China was heading towards becoming the leading economy of the world which was not acceptable for some dominating world economies.
He said two trends of international power politics prevailed these days – first of which was the containment of China and the second was to prevent resurgent of Russia as a big power, Gen. Janjua said. He warned, these two trends would affect Pakistan the most.
He said the economies of existing allies of the United States were already saturated, therefore it (the US) was looking towards India as emerging economy in a bid to contain China. He said the $46 billion CPEC would help China and Pakistan change the fortune of the people of both countries as well as the region as it was going to be a trade corridor.
Addressing the event, Chairman 101 Friends of China, Zahid Malik announced that the Secretariat of the Think Tank was all set to mark a beginning of opening its chapters in all the cities and towns of Pakistan. “Even small villages in distant areas would have these chapters,” he said.
He also announced the launch of the enrollment of its members and the target of membership for the year 2016 had been set as 100,000. Meanwhile, the 101 Friends of China also put a Resolution expressing serious concern over the escalation of tension in the South China and alarm over the military build up in the recent weeks in the region, which was adopted unanimously.
Expressing solidarity with China, the resolution stressed that the Permanent Court of Arbitration should conduct business strictly within its jurisdiction and that its rulings should not be used as an instrument to fuel tensions and disputes. He said China wanted to resolve the issue of South China Sea peacefully through negotiation with its neighbouring countries, including Vietnam and Philippines.