China on Monday urged Pakistan’s polarised political parties to work together to uphold solidarity, maintain social stability and properly handle relevant issues as they struggled to form a coalition government following a fractured mandate in the elections.
The February 8 general elections in cash-strapped Pakistan have been controversial with several serious allegations of widespread rigging to alter the results.
Over 10 days after the voting, there was still no clarity on which party would form the government at the Centre.
Though independent candidates backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf: party won the maximum number of seats in Parliament, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have announced that they will form a coalition government after the elections resulted in a hung Parliament.
Addressing a media briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said, “China noted that general elections in Pakistan are held in a generally steady and smooth manner and we offer our congratulations on this”.
“As a close and friendly neighbour, China fully respects the choice of the Pakistani people,” she said in response to questions on the outcome of the elections.
Asked whether China, Pakistan’s all-weather ally, is concerned about the political instability in Pakistan as the parties there struggled to form the government Mao said, “We hope and believe that relevant parties of Pakistan will uphold solidarity, maintain stability and properly handle relevant issues to jointly open up a brighter future for the development of the country”.
The political instability in Pakistan remained a cause of concern for China, which is investing heavily in the strategic USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) overriding India’s objections as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Beijing is also bankrolling Pakistan, which is in the throes of an economic crisis, to maintain the balance of payments with periodic loans to maintain the requisite forex reserves.
Mao said China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners. China hopes to work with Pakistan to build on the traditional friendship, deepen practical cooperation in various areas, and accelerate the building of an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era for the benefit of the people of the two countries.
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