Aurangzeb pledges enhanced security for Chinese interests in Pakistan: Report

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has pledged to enhance security measures in Pakistan to protect Chinese companies and personnel.

The remarks came amid a surge in terrorist attacks in the country, with some targeting Chinese interests. CPEC is a flagship infrastructure and economic initiative under China’s broader Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

In an interview with South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Sunday, Aurangzeb also pledged more cooperation with Beijing on the next phase of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Chinese engineers have been working on several projects in Pakistan, and Beijing has invested over $65 billion in infrastructure as part of CPEC.

“CPEC phase two is primarily about business-to-business, especially the economic zones. We want to make it work for some companies from the mainland to come in and use it as a real export hub,” Aurangzeb said.

“CPEC phase one was all about the infrastructure, and that is where most of this debt came in … [If] we go into phase two, where we go into export industries … we can create enough dollars and … repay this debt,” he maintained.

Chinese nationals have previously come under attack by several militant groups in Pakistan.

Last year in November, two Chinese nationals were shot at and injured in Pakistan’s commercial hub of Karachi.

A month earlier, three people, including two Chinese nationals, were killed in a suicide bombing near Karachi Airport, while more than 12 people, including police and Rangers personnel, were injured and more than a dozen vehicles were damaged.

The separatist militant group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed the explosion was an attack carried out by them using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device targeting Chinese nationals, including engineers, according to Reuters.

Earlier in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Aurangzeb said that the country is preparing to launch yuan-denominated bonds (panda bonds) this year to shore up its finances.

The finance minister told Bloomberg in an interview that the country is planning to raise $200 million to $250 million from Chinese investors over the next six to nine months.

Panda bonds are a type of debt security issued by foreign entities in the Chinese capital markets, and they are denominated in Chinese yuan (RMB).