BEIJING: Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian brushed away media reports suggesting the Chinese contractor has demobilised from the Dasu dam project site.
A terrorist attack on the dam site last July took the lives of 10 Chinese and four Pakistani nationals while injuring 28 others. At his regular briefing at International Press Centre (IPC) on Thursday, Zhao said he was unaware of any preconditions put forward by the contractor for resuming work on the dam site.
“I’m not aware of the situation you mentioned. As far as I know, the Dasu hydropower project has resumed,” he said in reply to a question on China’s demands for resuming work at Dasu hydropower project.
He said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was moving forward against a headwind posed by the pandemic. He rejected the reports that indicate the work on CPEC, a pilot project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), had slowed down over the past three and a half years.
The spokesperson said CPEC followed the principles of joint consultation and contribution for shared benefits. “Recently, we have seen [the] president of Pakistan, Dr Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan and some media’s positive comments on the progress made in the CPEC flagship project,” he said.
About the railway project, the spokesperson pointed out that it involved a huge investment and the authorities concerned were in consultation over it. He said the claim that little has been achieved and no programme was approved over the past three and a half years under CPEC was “pure disinformation”.
When asked about the status of a loan Pakistan requested China more than a year ago for a railway project, the spokesman said “it involves a large amount of investment and relevant departments of the two sides are still in consultation.”
The spokesperson said that new working groups on agriculture, information technology and science and technology have been established under CPEC. “During the past three years and a half, many livelihood projects were approved and implemented under the CPEC framework, delivering good results.”
