China offers to play 'constructive role' in defusing tension between Pakistan, Iran

• Chinese consul general urges both countries to exercise restraint.
• He asks Iran, Pakistan to follow principles, charter of UN.
• Yundong says China advocates for ceasefire in Gaza.

KARACHI: Amid the escalation of hostilities between Pakistan and Iran, Chinese Consul General in Karachi Yang Yundong on Thursday said Beijing would like to play a constructive role in settling differences between Islamabad and Tehran.

“China would like to ask Pakistan and Iran that we will like to play a constructive role to settle the differences between the two countries,” Yundong said exclusively talking to Geo News.

To a question on Iran’s blatant breach of Pakistan’s sovereignty by launching a missile attack in Balochistan, he said Pakistan and Iran were the major countries in the region and Muslim world, so China hoped that the differences between them could be solved through talks and other peaceful ways.

On January 17, Pakistan had warned Iran of serious consequences after Tehran violated Pakistan's airspace that claimed lives of two Pakistanis and injured multiple others.

"Pakistan strongly condemns the unprovoked violation of its airspace by Iran which resulted in death of two innocent children while injuring three girls," Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch had said in a statement.

Iranian state media had claimed that it had targeted the bases of a terrorist organisation in Pakistan with drones and missiles and destroyed the headquarters of the said group.

The foreign office spokesperson had termed this violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty as completely unacceptable and said it could prompt serious consequences.

The Chinese consul general urged both the countries to exercise restraint by following the principles and charter of the United Nations and norms of international relations. 

“We do hope that Pakistan and Iran can sit down and talk to solve their problems, properly,” he added.

To another query about if China could play a role in calming down the tension in the Middle East as the Gaza war has expanded to Yemen, Yundong said from the very beginning of the break out of the conflict in Gaza Strip, the Chinese government had called the international community to play important role to promote ceasefire in the region.

“China as a member of the United Nations Security Council has facilitated the passing of important resolutions in the UNGA. We would like to work with international community and major players in the region to advocate ceasefire as soon as possible to provide the humanitarian assistance to the local people of Gaza Strip and definitely reduce the over use of force against civilians. Such kind of atrocities are not acceptable to China and Chinese people,” he said.

When asked about China’s expectations with the new government for pace of development in the second phase of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the consul general said the Chinese government wanted to make sure that the CPEC construction benefitted more to the local people of Pakistan.

“We have achieved great achievements in the construction of the CPEC. We hope that the achievements that we have made in the first phase will lead to solid foundation for the social and economic developments of Pakistan. In the next stage, we are working with Pakistan to develop high quality developments of CPEC. We are working in agriculture, technology, IT, education and people to people exchanges and some other areas,” he said.