Chinese minister says ‘No’ to Zardari

BEIJING: Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi cut Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari to size by refusing to travel from Islamabad to Karachi for a meeting, according to Pakistani media. At the same time, he promised China’s support for Pakistan’s “independence, territorial integrity and dignity,” it said.
Zardari tried to make last-minute change in the venue and invited Yang to meet him in Karachi instead of Islamabad, where the meeting was originally planned. Yang declined, obviously viewing it as a ploy to test China’s dependence on Pakistan for strategic reasons.
“However, the delegation expressed its inability to travel to Karachi to meet the President and insisted on the venue and time earlier finalized,” Pakistan’s Online News Network reported. Zardari was forced to rush back to Islamabad, the Onlinenews report, which was also published on the website of The Nation newspaper of Pakistan.
The agency said it sought a clarification on the issue from Pakistan president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar, who said in an SMS reply: “The meeting was scheduled (to be held) in Islamabad.”
Yang also met Pakistani Chief of Army Staff General Kayani, who plays the crucial role of blocking the flow of Taliban-backed insurgents into China’s restive Xingjian region across the border. Pakistani leaders also expressed their opposition for the East Turkmenistan Movement by Xingjian’s Uighur militants, who are trying to create an independent nation.
The Chinese foreign minister also expressed unhappiness over the slow development of the Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea, which has been both financed and built by China in the hope that it will provide a vital link for transporting oil from the Arabian states.
Yang also offered to support plans for widening the Karakorum Highway connecting the two countries in the hope it would result in further development of Gwadar port.
On their part, the Pakistani leaders tried to persuade China to invest directly in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir areas in order to further complicate the Kashmir dispute with India. But the Chinese media has completely ignored statements by Pakistani leaders on the issue