ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani Foreign Office on Sunday refuted reports about the deployment of Chinese security forces in Pakistan to ensure security of Chinese nationals working in the country, describing them as “totally false.”
Media reports, following talks between Pakistan and China on the security of Chinese nationals this week, suggested that China has for the first time deployed its own security personnel in Pakistan to protect its projects and citizens amid rising terror attacks.
Chinese nationals have been in the crosshairs of separatist militants who believe Beijing is helping Pakistan exploit minerals in the underdeveloped southwestern province of Balochistan, where China has a strategic port and mining interests.
“I completely deny this. No Chinese forces are being deployed in Pakistan,” Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan told Arab News. “This is totally false and there is no credibility to these reports.”
Thousands of Chinese nationals are working in Pakistan, primarily on roads, infrastructure and development projects associated with the $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
“Discussions on the security of Chinese nationals are an ongoing process,” Khan said. “This is our commitment to ensure the security of Chinese personnel in Pakistan and these dialogues between the two countries are part of that arrangement.”
Beijing has been pushing Pakistan to allow its own security staff to provide protection to thousands of Chinese citizens working there, frustrated by a string of attacks on its citizens.
The push came after a bombing at the Karachi airport last October killed two Chinese engineers who were returning there to work at a power plant. In March 2024, five Chinese workers were killed in a suicide bombing in northwest Pakistan.
In October, the Pakistani government approved an additional Rs45 billion ($160 million) budget for the armed forces, primarily to enhance their capacity to protect Chinese commercial interests in Pakistan.
This week, Pakistan’s envoy to Beijing, Ambassador Khalil Hashmi, told reporters that discussions between the two countries on security measures to protect Chinese nationals working in Pakistan are still a “work in progress.”
“It’s a complex security environment,” he said. “We have the capability to resolve, to counter and combat and defeat these terrorist forces.”
Islamabad denies reports of China deploying its forces in Pakistan to protect its nationals
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Islamabad denies reports of China deploying its forces in Pakistan to protect its nationals
- Chinese nationals have been in the crosshairs of separatist militants who believe Beijing is helping Pakistan exploit minerals in Balochistan
- Pakistani officials say there is no credibility to these reports and the security of Chinese nationals in Pakistan is still a ‘work in progress’
