media reported that after several deadly attacks on Chinese citizens in Pakistan, the Chinese government plans to send security forces to protect its citizens in various cities of Pakistan; But Pakistan is against this plan and has requested China’s help to strengthen its intelligence power.
Kabul 24: The Reuters news agency reported on Tuesday, 22 Aqrab, that the Pakistani government is under pressure from China to accept the plan to send Chinese troops to the country to protect thousands of Chinese citizens working in Pakistan.
Sources told Reuters that last month’s attack on Chinese citizens in the Pakistani city of Karachi had angered Beijing. This attack, which took place with a car bomb in the Karachi airport, resulted in the death of two Chinese engineers. Before that, there were deadly attacks on Chinese citizens in Pakistan.
According to Reuters, these attacks and Islamabad’s failure to prevent them have angered China and prompted Pakistan to begin formal negotiations for a joint security management system.
The sources spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity and provided information about this. A source who participated in the recent meeting between Pakistan and China said that Pakistan did not agree to China’s request for the security of its citizens by Chinese forces.
The source and two other officials said there was consensus on setting up a joint security management system and that Pakistan would welcome Chinese officials in security and coordination meetings, but there was no agreement on their involvement in security measures.
One of the sources said that instead of directly involving China’s security forces, Pakistan has asked for China’s help to improve its intelligence and surveillance capabilities.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry told Reuters that he was not aware of such a plan being discussed and added: “China will continue to strengthen cooperation with Pakistan and make joint efforts to safeguard the security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions.”
Pakistan’s interior ministry said last week that both sides agreed to develop a joint strategy to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Last week, a car carrying nearly 100 kilograms of explosives waited for about 40 minutes near the heavily guarded outermost security ring of the Karachi airport, without the security forces noticing, until the driver of the car bombed the car carrying the engineers. Chinese hit and exploded.
The separatist militant group of the Baloch Liberation Army took responsibility for this attack.
China, Pakistan’s longtime ally, has thousands of its citizens working on projects such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $65 billion investment in President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative
