Islamabad:
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will undertake near a week -long visit to China from Saturday to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and keep bilateral meetings with Chinese leaders.
“During the invitation of Mr. Xi Jinping, the President of the People’s Republic of China, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif Visit China on August 30, 2025 to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization of the leaders of the State Summit in Tianjin,” said a statement published here by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In China, the Prime Minister would hold meetings with President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Qiang during which the multifaceted dimensions of Bilateral Pakistani-China cooperation would be discussed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
He would also attend the military parade with President XI and other world leaders who stand in Beijing to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the world’s anti-fascist war.
The Prime Minister would interact with renowned Chinese businessmen and business leaders to discuss bilateral, economic and investment links. It would also be for an investment conference B2B Pakistani in Beijing.
The visit is part of the leadership exchanges between Pakistan and China. It manifests the importance attached by the two countries to further deepen their “strategic cooperative partnership of all time”, reaffirm support on respective basic interest issues, prerequisite phase II of the CPEC and maintain regular communication on significant regional and global developments, read the Declaration of the Foreign Bureau.
It will be the first visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz since the War of Pakistan-India in May after the attack on Pahalgam. Pakistan came out victorious when it killed at least 6 Indian fighter planes, including the French very advanced Made Rafale. It was the first time that Chinese military equipment was tested on a real battlefield against Western technology.
The profile of China in terms of military technology has increased by certain notches while Western commentators have admitted that Beijing is not tied with other Western countries in terms of defense equipment.
Prime Minister Shehbaz’s visit also arrives at a critical time when the world and the region undergo major transformations. On the one hand, Pakistan’s ties with the United States have seen an unprecedented ascending movement while Indian relations with Washington have reached a new hollow. In the midst of all this, there was an India push to reset links with China.
Recently, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi went to New Delhi, the first visit of a great Chinese diplomat in three years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi must also visit China to attend the OCS summit and meet President XI.
However, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who went to Kabul and Islamabad after his stopover in New Delhi, clearly said that Beijing-Islamabad’s ties would remain solid.
Pakistan has also transmitted in unambiguous terms that its improved links with the United States, the largest opponent in China, would not have maintained its strategic partnership with Beijing.
