Pakistan-China partnership continues to scale new heights: deputy PM

ISLAMABAD, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Monday highlighted the growing strength and evolving depth of the Pakistan-China all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, calling it a cornerstone of Islamabad's foreign policy and a key driver of regional peace, development, and connectivity.

Speaking at an event marking the 52nd anniversary of the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, Dar said the Pakistan-China bilateral relationship continues to "scale new heights," adapting to shifting global and regional dynamics with enhanced cooperation across multiple sectors.

"Our foreign policy remains proactive and result-oriented, and the Pakistan-China all-weather strategic cooperative partnership continues to grow in depth and scope," he said, adding that the partnership is being elevated wherever necessary to meet the demands of a transforming world.

He underscored China's leading role in fostering regional connectivity through inclusive, multilateral mechanisms. He highlighted the recent trilateral forums -- China-Pakistan-Afghanistan and China-Pakistan-Bangladesh -- as examples of a shared commitment to regional integration and win-win cooperation.

The China-Pakistan-Afghanistan ministerial meeting in Beijing recently, he said, marked a "qualitative change" in ties and laid the groundwork for extending the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) into Afghanistan.

"Such cooperation mechanisms, based on mutual benefit and common interest, are central to Pakistan's pivot to geoeconomics," he added.

Launched in 2013, CPEC, a flagship project of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, is a corridor linking Gwadar Port in Pakistan with Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which highlights energy, transport, and industrial cooperation in the first phase, while in the new phase it expands to fields of agriculture and livelihood, among others.