4/21/2015

Xi Jinping on Pakistan: I Feel As If I Am Going to Visit the Home of My Own Brother | The Diplomat

Xi Jinping on Pakistan: 'I Feel As If I Am

Going to Visit the Home of My Own
Brother'
Ahead of his trip to Pakistan, Xi Jinping published an op-ed
outlining his priorities for the visit.
By Ankit Panda
April 20, 2015

A few hours ahead of Xi Jinpings scheduled touchdown in Islamabad

for his first-ever state visit to Pakistan, an op-ed authored by the
Image Credit: Xi Jinping image from Kaliva /
Chinese president appeared in Pakistans Daily Times. While the
Shutterstock
article is predictably primarily written through the use of diplomatic
platitudes and offers little insight into the actual state of bilateral
affairs between the two countries, Xis editorial is a good indicator of what Beijing would like to publicly emphasize about the
China-Pakistan relationship.
The editorial, titled Pak-China Dosti Zindabad (Long Live the Pakistan-China Friendship), begins with a quote from an Urdu
poem, which Xi uses to set Pakistan up as a good friend in my heart. He continues:
When I was young, I heard many touching stories about Pakistan and the friendship between our two
countries. To name just a few, I learned that the Pakistani people were working hard to build their beautiful
country, and that Pakistan opened an air corridor for China to reach out to the world and supported China in
restoring its lawful seat in the United Nations. The stories have left me with a deep impression. I look forward
to my upcoming state visit to Pakistan.
Xi further notes that though this trip will be his first visit to Pakistan, he feels as if he is going to visit the home of [his] own
brother. Chinese officials have described Pakistan as Chinas iron brother in the past. The language in the editorial then
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Xi Jinping on Pakistan: I Feel As If I Am Going to Visit the Home of My Own Brother | The Diplomat

goes on to emphasize the comprehensive and positive nature of the China-Pakistan relationship. Xi falls short of invoking the
all weather descriptor, a rhetorical flourish commonly employed to suggest that bilateral ties are frictionless when, behind
the facade of diplomatic niceties, Pakistan and China face their fair share of challenges (some of which Ive discussed in my
recent article, previewing Xis visit to Pakistan; see An All Weather Encounter: Chinas Xi Jinping Heads to Pakistan in The
Diplomat).
The op-ed continues to invoke a range of phrases out of Chinas diplomatic play book and a few of Xi Jinpings catchphrases.
Community of common destiny, Chinese dream, great national rejuvenation, and win-win all make an appearance. Xi
notes that hed like to see Pakistan succeed an emerge as an Asian tiger soon. Xis editorial also offers the closest thing to an
official Chinese version of the agenda for the state visit (weve seen plenty of takes on the matter in the Pakistani media
leading up to this visit).
Xi notes that he will meet with President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other Pakistani leaders as well
as people from various sectors for in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and issues of shared interest. I look
forward to working with Pakistani leaders during the visit to explore the general framework for bilateral cooperation, make
substantive progress in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and practical cooperation in other fields and push for the
furtherance of bilateral ties at a higher level, he adds.
Xis article confirms preliminary reports from Pakistani sources that this visit will overwhelmingly focus on the China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, an endeavor that Beijing envisages as critical to the more ambitious One Belt, One Road
and 21st Century Silk Road initiatives:
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is located in where the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century
Maritime Silk Road meet. It is, therefore, a major project of the Belt and Road initiative. We need to form a
1+4 cooperation structure with the Economic Corridor at the centre and the Gwadar Port, energy,
infrastructure and industrial cooperation being the four key areas to drive development across Pakistan and
deliver tangible benefits to its people.
The op-ed concludes with a triumphant call for Pakistan and China to stand shoulder to shoulder and work hand-in-hand to
open up an even brighter future of China-Pakistan relations, and ends with an Urdu crescendo, affirming the friendship
between the two countries: China-Pak dosti zindabad!
Xi Jinping has turned to publishing op-eds ahead of his state visits, ostensibly as a method of reaching out to the broader
populations of the countries he visits. Last fall, on his South Asia tour to Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indiaa trip that originally
included a stop in Pakistan that was then postponed due to nationwide protests in the countryXi published similar editorials
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Xi Jinping on Pakistan: I Feel As If I Am Going to Visit the Home of My Own Brother | The Diplomat

in prominent national newspapers (see Towards an Asian Century of Prosperity in Indias Hindu, Let Us Become Partners
in Pursuit of Our Dreams, in Sri Lankas Daily News, and Close Friends and Partners for Development in Maldives Sun).
Read his full editorial over at Pakistans Daily Times.

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