Chinese Projects for Punjab | IA Hashmi

China is strongly promoting cooperation with Pakistan in all such areas that will benefit the people of both countries. According to a media report, China has prepared an Education Expansion and Poverty Alleviation Plan for South Punjab, under which it will help in educating out-of-school children to eradicate poverty and prevent extremism trends in the backward areas of South Punjab. Small but beautiful projects will be started to increase the livelihood of the people of the region. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz is also on a visit to China these days, where decisions have been made to cooperate in various fields with her Chinese leadership. China will help Punjab province in many areas including hydropower, water management, agriculture, e-transport, waste management and environmental improvement. 

Beijing-Punjab Clean Air Working Group will be established. The Chief Minister has also presented proposals for twinning cities and provinces. According to the report, a security audit of Chinese projects will be conducted. Areas where security threats are high will be identified and bulletproof vehicles will be used for the movement of Chinese residents. Currently, there are 20,000 Chinese citizens living in Pakistan, of which 2,700 are working on CPEC and the rest are living as individuals. Since 2021, there have been 14 attacks on Chinese citizens, in which 20 Chinese were killed and 34 injured. It is clear that behind terrorism in Pakistan, there is the hand of foreign agencies and a sinister conspiracy to create a rift in Pak-China friendship. Both of us are bound in an iron bond of friendship and are determined to thwart all conspiracies against us. No conspiracy to weaken Pak-China mutual trust and cooperation will succeed.