Current Projects
Upcoming 20th National Congress Meeting of The Communist Party of China And Its Importance to Pakistan
The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), will take place in late 2022. This politburo meeting is held after every five years and according to analysts, it will be one of the most consequential party gatherings in decades. It will decide on China’s future path and most likely re-enforce trust in President Xi`s leadership, and his vision to guide China into the middle of the twenty first century, by establishing key priorities for the next five years. To emphasize the upcoming CPC meetings importance, the Pakistan-China Institute held a special event on 29th August, 2022 under the platform Friends of Silk road Initiative. Speakers at the dialogue included , Chief Guest Hina Rabbani Khar, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, H.E.Nong Rong, Senator and Federal Minister Syed Mushahid Hussain and other leading Pakistani politicians and MPs. In her opening remark, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar stated that China “brings all of Pakistan together” and is the nation that unites Pakistan. China has never had a government attempt to undermine its status as the mainstay of Pakistani foreign policy. In reply, Ambassador Nong Rong termed Pakistan-China relations as ‘rock-solid’. Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed thanked the Chinese government for sending cash and donating 25,000 tents to flood victims in Pakistan. He asserted that President Xi Jinping’s message is one of people-centric growth and human security. Later on, one of the speakers, Senator Dr. Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur, highlighted the benefits that CPEC has brought to Pakistan. She informed the participants that as of June 2022, 27 CPEC projects totaling approximately $19 billion had been completed and an additional 27 CPEC projects totaling $7.7 billion are now in the building stage. According to her, CPEC projects have given Pakistanis access to over 80,000 jobs and 28,000 Pakistani students are currently enrolled in Chinese...
India’s Move to Bring Demographic Changes in the Disputed Kashmir Valley
Since the abrogation of the Article 370 in 2019, India has ruled the disputed territory of Kashmir though the use of force and violence. The people have been depressed, tortured and humiliated by the Indian forces residing in the territory. The already suffocated environment is further tensed by the recent decision of allowing temporarily residing people in Kashmir to vote. It is an attempt by the fascist and Hindu nationalist government of Modi to bring demographic changes in the territory. The move has ignited anger and fear among the natives as it further deteriorates their living conditions and endangers political and social agency. Since taking charge of India’s government, the administration of Modi has taken multiple steps to change the status of Kashmir in India’s favor. The years of Modi’s rule have magnified the fascist and nationalist agenda of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Starting with the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019 that unilaterally stripped the region’s special status, the BJP regime has brutally suffocated the living conditions for Muslims of the region. The recent attempt of the Hindu nationalist government in the form of allowing Indian citizens living temporarily in the Muslim-majority region to be enlisted as voters have outraged the Kashmiris. The effort to change the demographic conditions of the Muslim majority regions is a cause of fear and anger among the oppressed Kashmiris. The federally controlled electoral officer in Indian-administrated Kashmir announced to add 2.5 million more voters to the 7.6 native voters, which is counted as a sweeping 30 percent increase. The new voters encompass Indians temporarily residing in the region such as the Indian military personnel, private and government sector employees, and migrant workers. The well-planned abrogation of Article 370 formed a base to initiate such a bold move as individuals who were not eligible to vote before are privileged now. The law enables anyone ordinarily...
Beijing Rebuts US Claims on Democracy, Rights, Respect
The United States has accused China of meddling with the world order and has vowed to protect the international law, principles and agreements that govern the world. Beijing wants fairer rules of the business and has dismissed these allegations by denouncing the U.S. of designing the international order to establish themselves as the hegemonic force. With China, one of the largest economies in the world, seen and presented as a threat, a new cold war is brewing! Anthony Blinken, the secretary of state, delivered a speech at the Asia Society held at The George Washington University with the theme of “The Administration’s Approach to the People’s Republic of China” in which Blinken criticized the Chinese administration for trying to mend the rules of the game. Starting off by stating a renewed commitment towards a more “equitable”, “democratic” and “prosperous” future for all, he called it a product of an international world order: “To build that future, we must defend and reform the rules-based international order – the system of laws, agreements, principles, and institutions. Its founding documents include the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which enshrined concepts like self-determination, sovereignty, the peaceful settlement of disputes. These are not Western constructs. They are reflections of the world’s shared aspirations.”, he added while terming Russia and China as threats to these universal values. He termed the Russian invasion of Ukraine to a failure as it strengthened the resilience of the Ukrainian people, brought closer the NATO allied countries and united the world to stand against Moscow which violated these universal principles of sovereignty, peaceful settlement of disputes and so on. The state secretary, however, termed the People’s Republic of China “the most serious long-term challenge to the international order” which has both “the intent” and “the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power” to put that...
Taiwan Belongs to China- Chinese Defense Minister’s Warning to US at The SCO Meeting
During a recently concluded SCO ( Shanghai Cooperation Organization) meeting held on 24th August, 2022 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the Chinese Defense Minister virtually addressed the member participants and reiterated that, ” Taiwan is China`s Taiwan and the Taiwan issue is China`s internal Affair.” Clearly, the Minister was referring to the recent trip to Taiwan by the US House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, despite warnings from China to refrain from such a visit. This interaction has infuriated the Chinese who consider such a move, provocative by the US. In response, the Chinese conducted massive military drills near the island, invoking the Taiwanese government to claim that this time, the drills were deep within Taiwanese territorial waters and a mock exercise for invasion of the island. The Chinese Defense Minister also took the opportunity to stress and appreciate the international community/ organizations stance for recognizing that Taiwan is a breakaway province and an integral part of China. He was referring to the 170 plus countries who do not maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan or recognize its independence. He also stated that the SCO, (which comprises of India, Russia, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) is a positive platform for regional peace and harmony and President Xi Jinping`s proposed Global Security Initiative `provides a correct solution for addressing international security challenges”. He urged the SCO member states to strengthen security cooperation with one another as the world community is currently experiencing a global crisis and facing challenges unseen before. He called for global unity and harmony and said China is ready to work with other countries to uphold global equity, justice and world peace. In the present political situation, the SCO can be seen as a positive alliance of regional countries for promotion of peace and stability in the region. However, the US would presumably see it as another bloc...
Re-Engaging with The Taliban: Russian-Chinese Initiative
The United States has blocked Afghan Central Bank foreign currency reserves from reaching the country, totaling approximately US$7 billion. Despite the international pressure, the US is hesitant to allow this money to return to its rightful owners – the Afghan people – since it is still reeling from its defeat. To deal with the existing economic crises in their country while realizing they will not get support from the West, the Taliban have reached out to Russia and China for assistance. The United States pullout from Afghanistan last year, after almost 20 years of occupation, has been painful and embarrassing for them the American government. Despite spending a trillion dollars on the war, the US has achieved nothing in strategic terms and even with its military power, could not manage to defeat its main enemy, the Taliban. Although you could classify the Taliban as a bunch of rag-tagged guerilla fighters, they still possessed the discipline and perseverance to achieve their goal. Following the US departure, the Taliban started to bring some form of stability to the country and formed a government consisting of their former senior commanders and religious leaders. However, running the country has not been easy as the country is amongst the poorest nations with the worst living conditions. There is hardly any food for the general population, and there is no existing infrastructure for providing energy needs, including the import of oil that is direly needed. Hence, they are in dire need of international aid. To compound the worsening situation, the US has blocked Afghan Central Bank foreign currency reserves from reaching the country, totaling approximately US$7 billion. Despite international pressure, the US is hesitant to allow this money to return to its rightful owners – the Afghan people – since it is still reeling from its defeat. Recently though, after calls from within the administration, President Biden is mulling the prospect of allowing US$3.5 billion...
Critical Minerals – The Next Front Line In The China-US Rivalry?
China should shore up its supply chains in essential resources as the US seeks to cut dependence, experts suggest Washington has long been aware of its vulnerabilities but Beijing has not come up with a way to assess supply risks Beijing should forge alliances with “friendly” suppliers of critical minerals as the United States and its allies seek to reshape global supply chains to cut dependence on China, two Chinese resources experts say. In an article in prominent journal Science & Technology Review earlier this month, the experts said such alliances could also give China and its Belt and Road Initiative trade partners a greater say in international trade negotiations over those minerals. “The focus should be on controlling the risk of shortages of key minerals, building a global trade network for key minerals that is conducive to China’s resource security, and achieving a rational, efficient and secure allocation of key minerals,” they wrote. “At the same time, China should focus … on strengthening cooperation with other mineral resource supplying countries, form international resource alliances, and speak out together in international trade negotiations to ensure the security of supply of key minerals to China and friendly countries.” The authors – Zhao Shen from Jiangxi University of Science and Technology and Wang Peng from the Ganjiang Innovation Academy at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Jiangxi – are based in Ganzhou, the resource-rich region home to state-owned China Rare Earth Group. The proposal is part of an assessment of US policies on supplies of essential minerals over the decades. It comes amid a US drive to strengthen its alliances with Western democracies to counter China on a range of fronts, from the military to technology. Zhao and Wang said that drive reflected Washington’s shift in focus “from being solely oriented towards security of supply to meeting political and diplomatic needs”. China is a major player in mineral processing. It...
“Pacing China Challenge” necessitated Afghan Pull-out: US Official
A senior American defence official has dismissed the ubiquitous notion that the United States abruptly withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, saying the move was driven by the Biden administration’s shift in “strategic priorities”. Pentagon Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Colin Kahl made the startling but not surprising statement at an August 8, 2022, press conference in Washington, which was the first candid and categorical expression of why the US withdrew from Afghanistan a year ago. It was not abrupt, the official implied. “The fundamental driver of the President’s decision to complete the withdrawal from Afghanistan …..was a recognition that America’s strategic priorities had shifted and that the United States had to prioritize the challenge – a pacing challenge posed by the People’s Republic of China,” Kahl said, signaling that the US is now focused on China’s westward expansion, and the Biden administration is gradually implementing a policy that defines China as a rival country. The under-secretary underscored a need to extricate the US from over two decades of war in Afghanistan and focus on the threats that Russia and China pose to the United States. “We had to be prepared to focus more on the threat to European security represented by the acute threat that — that Russia poses. That for too long, we had been bogged down in a particular part of the world at the expense of other, more pressing strategic priorities. And I think the events we’ve been talking about today, whether it’s across the Taiwan Strait or in Russia-Ukraine, validate that assessment — that the world has changed and we need to focus on the biggest threats to our security in the contemporary environment.”, Kahl underscored. President Joe Biden, in an address to Congress on April 29, 2021, made several references to China to underline the new focus on the world’s second-biggest economy. “We compete with China and other countries to win the 21st Century”, Biden said. President Xi...
America’s False Attempt to Portray China as a Threat
For the last few years, Americans have used every platform to disseminate that China is the most dangerous challenge to the current world order. They have habitually favored their domestic law over international laws to upgrade their position while threatening global stability. On the contrary, China is a founding member of the United Nations and was the first country to sign the UN charter. Historically, it has taken all the optimal measures to preserve the international order and has seldom engaged in coercive diplomacy despite facing numerous challenges from its rivals. A worthy figure in the contemporary world, Noam Chomsky has said on multiple occasions that if the Nuremberg principles were applied, every post-World War II US president would be indictable. The country claiming to be the chief guardian of human rights, democracy, and other values faces an uphill to proving the propagated belief. For the last few decades, the Americans have used their global outreach and lobbies to portray to the world that “China’s threat” is real and inevitable. To suppress China, the US has relied on deceptive, hypocritical, and dangerous language to contain and suppress Chinese growth. The falsehoods present in the American narrative to depict China as a threat to western values backfires when the history of the US is studied carefully. For the last few years, the Americans have used every platform to disseminate that China is the most dangerous challenge to the current world order and is undermining it. On the other hand, they have defended the stance of Washington for upholding the international norms and rights of sovereign states. In reality, the US has consistently molded the international order to satisfy its hegemonic lust and vowed for the US-dominated order to achieve its national interests. The quest that started with the Korean War stretched throughout the Cold War and the United States continues to intervene in the affairs of other states – as evident in the...
Working for Collective Peace and Development: How to Defeat Fake News
Key elements of journalism were discussed in a workshop on "Working for Collective Peace and Development: How to Defeat Fake News" for Baloch journalists, organised by CRSS. The panel consisted of expert journalists who engaged in a critical discussion on how to combat fake news. The sessions covered objective journalism, ethos of journalism, motivated news and role of western media in distorting facts.
Russia Warns of ‘Direct Military Clash’ with US
The continued confrontation between the two powers could lead to unpredictable results, Russia’s US embassy warns Washington’s behavior on the world stage risks direct conflict between the nuclear states, the Russian embassy in the US has warned. “Today, the United States continues to act with no regard to other countries’ security and interests, which contributes to an increase in nuclear risks,” the embassy said in a statement on its Telegram channel. “The [US’] steps to further engage in a hybrid confrontation with Russia in the context of the Ukrainian crisis are fraught with unpredictable escalation and a direct military clash of nuclear powers.” The embassy noted that Washington has recently withdrawn from two key arms control agreements, the 1987 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which banned certain classes of land-based missiles, and the 1992 Treaty on Open Skies, which allowed for surveillance flights over each other’s territories. The embassy urged the US to “take a closer look at its own nuclear policy instead of making unfounded accusations against the countries whose worldviews do not coincide with the American ones.” “Our country faithfully fulfills its obligations as a nuclear-weapon state and makes every effort to reduce nuclear risks,” the diplomats said. The statement comes after the US accused Moscow of using the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine as cover for its soldiers. The plant, the largest in Europe, was seized by Russian troops during the early stages of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, which was launched in late February. It continues to operate with Ukrainian personnel under Russian control. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Russia’s action at the facility “the height of irresponsibility.” Russia and Ukraine, meanwhile, have been accusing each other of shelling the plant. According to Moscow, artillery fire by Ukrainians forces caused several fires and partial power outages this month. Russia...
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TESTIMONIALS
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I am also a member of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting. Recently, we held a meeting with the Director General of Radio Pakistan and we told them to initiate such local programs (like Constituency Hour) in regional languages to educate and inform people. Even Indian Radio can be heard in FATA which is being used for propaganda purposes and must be closed. Therefore, we should launch some standard and quality programs like CRSS that will change the taste of the listeners.