No change in China policy towards Pakistan: Interior Minister

Islamabad, Sept 14: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal has claimed that there was no change in China's policy towards Pakistan. After the BRICS Declaration, issued at the end of a Summit in the Chinese city of Xiamen lately, there were media reports that China's policy towards Pakistan did not remain the same. In view of this, Iqbal refuted the media reports here yesterday in a statement. For reference, the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that make up the BRICS grouping, earlier this month, had named militant groups allegedly based in Pakistan as a regional security concern, calling for their patrons to be held to account. The Interior Minister said China adopted the same stance which was expressed in the Declaration at the Heart of Asia Conference held in India. “Similarly when Donald Trump criticised Pakistan, not only China and Russia, but even think tanks of United States said that peace cannot be ensured in Afghanistan without cooperation of Pakistan,” said the Minister in his statement. A few days ago, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong had assured Pakistan that nothing new was there in the BRICS Declaration. “The BRICS Declaration mentioned organisations which are already banned,” Mr Sun had observed, adding that “there has been no change in Chinese policy regarding Pakistan”. UNI