President confers Nishan-i-Imtiaz (M) upon General Han Weiguo

Lahore : President Dr. Arif Alvi Tuesday conferred Nishan-i-Imtiaz (Military) upon General Han Weiguo, Commander of the
People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Ground Force of China, in a special
investiture ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.

On the occasion, President Dr. Arif Alvi congratulated General Han
Weiguo and reiterated Pakistan strong resolve to take the bilateral
relations between the two countries to new heights in all fields.
Later, General Han Weiguo also called on the President, a press release said.
The President said Pakistan and China enjoyed a unique all-weather and
time-tested friendship and Pakistan considered China as its “Iron
Brother”.

While highlighting Pakistan-China friendship, an important cornerstone
of Pakistan’s foreign policy, the President said defence and economic
relations between the two counties were vital for maintaining peace
and stability in the region.

He highlighted the importance of digital economy and cyber security in
today’s world and underscored the need for close cooperation between
the two brotherly countries to ward off challenges emerging in cyber
field.

The President further said that defence and strategic cooperation was
the backbone of strategic cooperative partnership and defence
authorities of the both countries had maintained close coordination.
Frequent high-level exchange of military delegations was a key aspect
of our cooperation in this regard, he added.

He also underlined the need to further enhance counter-terrorism
cooperation between the two countries.
“Pakistan and China are joined together in a broad-based, long-term
‘all weather strategic cooperative partnership’. Pakistan-China Treaty
for Friendship and Cooperation and good neighborly relations has
further contributed to the deepening of this relationship.

The two sides have a multi-faceted bilateral cooperation in diverse
fields such as economic, political, strategic and cultural areas and
often share similar views on global issues,” the press release quoted
the President as saying.

The President said that Pakistan deeply valued China’s support on
issues of its national security and territorial integrity including
Kashmir.

He reassured that Pakistan strongly adhered to the “One China Policy”
and expressed satisfaction over progress of all the ongoing projects
initiated under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
With the completion of early harvest projects, CPEC has entered its
second phase, he said, adding in which focus was on socio-economic
cooperation, agriculture development, poverty alleviation and
industrial cooperation.

He further underscored that the safety and security of Chinese
nationals was Pakistan’s top priority. He highlighted that Government of Pakistan had instituted multi-layer security arrangements with the civil and military security agencies and involvement of provincial and federal governments for the safety of Chinese nationals.

General Han Weiguo Commander of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)
Ground Force of China thanked the President for awarding him the
Nishan-i-Imtiaz (Military).