Chinese foreign ministry said the relationship between China and Pakistan remains as good as always.
The violent attack on the Chinese Consulate General in the Pakistani city of Karachi will not affect the development of relations between the two countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Tuesday.
“The Pakistani side has stated that it will make every effort to crack the case, resolutely crack down on the organization that committed the crime, and strengthen the security protection of China’s institutions, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Chinese citizens. The United Nations Security Council has also issued a press statement on the issue and has condemned the attack in the strongest term,” said Geng.
“The Chinese side has expressed sincere gratitude to the Pakistani police for taking prompt and decisive actions to effectively protect the security of people in the Consulate General. China has also expressed deep condolences over the deaths of the Pakistani security guards and civilians, and has showed sympathy for the injured security officers,” he said.
According to Geng, the relationship between China and Pakistan remains as good as always, and China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners.
Chinese Consulate in Karachi was attacked on Friday 23 November when three armed men stormed in the Chinese Consulate in the morning, killing two police officers on the gate to gain entry inside the consulate. They also managed to enter in visa section.
According to different reports, after at least more than one hour of heavy fighting between security forces and attackers, the security forces regained the control of the area after killing all attackers.
A Baloch armed group, Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed the responsibility of the attack. Jeehand Baloch, spokesman of BLA, said in a statement that the main objective of the attack was to highlight Chinese exploitative designs to the world and BLA was successful in this operation.
Earlier this year in August, BLA had also carried out a suicide attack targeting a bus carrying Chinese engineers in Dalbandin. The suicide bomber was Rehan Baloch, the elder son of Aslam Baloch, the chief of BLA.
Aslam Baloch in his interview with ANI also alleged that Chinese Army is present in Sindh and Balochistan to protect its projects.
“They are trying to counter any sort of criticism or opposition against its projects. Our people have carried out several protests against it, but they are unstoppable,” Aslam Baloch said.
BLA’s ally Balochistan Liberation Front’s chief Dr Allah Nazar also criticized China for exploiting their resources and growing militarization in the region.
Two of Balochistan’s most prominent armed leaders have said that their ‘fight against Pakistan and China’s occupation of Balochistan will continue’.