Islamabad, Pakistan: A rundown of Indian and US official media regarding the successful visit of the Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif, and Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir to China shows many similarities in media coverage of this historic event.
Both looked unhappy and tried to find something that could be used as negative against Pakistan or China or at least tried to establish that the recent interaction at the highest level between the two countries was useless and non-productive. India has not recognized the Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) the US officially stands with India over her stated position on CPEC. Strangely, the rhetoric and criticism over CPEC is coming from PTI leadership while using almost the same phraseology that is being used by Indian as well as US think tanks and media outlets. There is no need to explain the US’s bitter relations with China as the US President has already called China the greatest threat to the US and there is no need to explain Pakistan’s relations with India which has yet to accept Pakistan as an independent state and always tries to harm Pakistan. However, one should try to find out why PTI hates Pakistan so much that it always toes the lines of anti-Pakistan forces to harm a country where it is registered as a political party.
To understand what PTI is propagating against the recent visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and COAS Gen Asim Munir to China, one should have a look into Indian as well as US media to find out the thread of PTI’s propaganda before finding what PTI is portraying about this visit.
“Joint statements released by China and Pakistan provide a good barometer for where CPEC may be headed. There are no new major projects to show for it. But more importantly, the statements reveal the state of relations between both countries, such as the dropping of Pakistan from “the highest priority” to “a priority” in China’s foreign policy, both in 2023 and 2024”, reports the Diplomat India.
“Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is in Pakistan, seeking more investments to help his country’s devastated economy. The much-touted China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, though, is turning out to be a millstone around Pakistan’s neck, with debt repayments mounting and returns proving elusive. Easy money, it turns out, isn’t. Pakistan does not gain anything from this visit just photoshoot and some more loans”, reports Print –India
“Pakistani government officials are hailing as a success a recent five-day visit to China by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Observers, however, say that despite the usual display of warm relations from both sides, hurdles remain in improving the economic partnership between Beijing and Islamabad, largely because of Pakistan’s poor policies”, reports the Voice of America.
India, US media, and PTI have failed to provide circumstantial evidence or any non-binding communique to justify their propaganda for calling Pak-China meetings a failure because meetings of Chinese and Pakistani civil and military leaderships were given the highest level of protocol and media coverage
Dozens of such comments can be gathered from US and Indian Think Tanks, media outlets, and regional experts but there is no need here, and the above-mentioned are referred to as examples of how India and the US try to discredit and marginalize Sino-Pak relations at a historic crossroad where US has launched India to capping and curtailing Chinese trade as well as Chinese influence over regional partners. Interestingly, the same week when Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif and the COAS Gen Asim Munir were having important meetings in China, the members of the American Congress were meeting the Dalai Lama in India who has been hosting him for ages and caring for him as ‘US strategic asset in the region’. After meeting Dalai Lama, U.S. lawmakers said they would not allow China to influence the choice of his successor. They added Washington would pressure Beijing to hold talks with Tibetan leaders, stalled since 2010, to resolve the Tibet issue, with a bill they said President Joe Biden would sign soon. The group of seven Congressmen led by Michael McCaul, who chairs the House foreign affairs committee, separatist Dalai Lama at his monastery in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala. The forthcoming US bill that was referred by Congressmen would demand Beijing to hold talks with Tibetan leaders. Regional experts believe that the visit of Congressmen at the time when Pakistan and China are going to kick off the strategic phase of CPEC must be taken as pressure on China to hold its plans to expand its sphere in the region.
When India and the United States are putting pressure on China and propagating that the Sino-Pak relationship is no good for anybody, the propaganda launched by PTI while using the same rhetoric and content is quite dangerous and needs a thorough investigation to find linkages of PTI propaganda with US and Indian stated position for curtailing China and discredit CPEC project that is a flagship of the Chinese vision of Belt and Road (BRI) initiative.
There is a catch— India, US media and PTI have failed to provide circumstantial evidence or any non-binding communique to justify their propaganda for calling Pak-China meetings a failure because meetings of Chinese and Pakistani civil and military leaderships were given the highest level of protocol and media coverages. Moreover, propaganda has failed to answer certain questions including that if China does not have a future program with Pakistan, why did it host two important personalities of this country in its country? Secondly, if the visit was unsuccessful, were the stated agreements, which are documented, made in the air? Despite all the negative publicity, the visit was hailed by analysts as a success in terms of cooperation between the two countries, largely because 23 agreements were signed during the visit and CPEC II was inaugurated.
Regarding the point inflated by US media, PTI and India was the issue of security of Chinese workers in Pakistan. It is pertinent to mention that security is not only a problem of Pakistan but of the whole world and President Xi said that he is hopeful that Pakistan will ensure the security of our workers. Responsibility will improve, does this prove the failure of such an important visit?
This is not the first time that PTI tried to discredit Pakistan even earlier, wherever the Prime Minister or the military leadership visited, PTI spread negative propaganda about them, as was seen during and after the most important visits to Saudi Arabia. Tragically, CPEC, which was launched with much fanfare by the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) government in 2013 and was hailed as a game changer for the region, was sidelined by PTI and came to power in 2018. The relations with China on one side and the development process on the other side were also badly affected during the PTI regime.
At the end of the Prime Minister’s visit to China, criticism and propaganda were truly negated when the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that false propaganda was being spread about China-Pakistan relations and he said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to China is (was) a milestone and a success. “It is a visit that will bring prosperity to both countries. The visit has created many avenues that will benefit the people. The success of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s visit to China is another great example”, commented a Chinese spokesperson.
PTI propaganda brigade takes financial and technical support from its foreign masters
An unbiased review of the situation indicates that the only objective behind the negative propaganda of the hostile forces, especially PTI is to destabilize Pakistan and damage its international relations. Despite all the negative publicity, the visit was hailed by analysts as a success in terms of cooperation between the two countries, largely because 23 agreements were signed during the visit and CPEC II was inaugurated. On this occasion, President Xi said that China will always support and protect Pakistan’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity and will continue to play an important role in promoting exchanges between the two countries. It was agreed to upgrade the inspection infrastructure of Khunjarab Sost Pass for early completion of the Khunjarab-Sost Pass border. According to available data, the reconstruction/remolding of the Karakoram Highway (KKH) between Raikot to Thakot will start soon which is of great importance for smooth operation between Pakistan and China.
Describing the visit of Pakistan’s Prime Minister and Army Chief as a failure after putting the above facts in front is nothing but lies and the ‘business as usual’ from the PTI propaganda brigade that takes financial and technical support from its foreign masters.
