China asks Pak political parties to settle differences on CPEC

"China hopes that the relevant parties in Pakistan could strengthen communication and coordination on the CPEC to create favourable conditions for the project," the embassy said in a statement.

Islamabad: With the government, its allies and opposition parties at loggerheads over alleged changes in the route of the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the Chinese embassy in Islamabad broke its silence on the project on Saturday and urged all quarters to resolve their differences.
"China hopes that the relevant parties in Pakistan could strengthen communication and coordination on the CPEC to create favourable conditions for the project," the embassy said in a statement.
Asked to comment on recent developments on the $46 billion project, the embassy spokesperson said. "The CPEC is the consensus reached between China and Pakistan, and has won popular support from the two peoples. The CPEC faces Pakistan as a whole, and will bring development and benefits to the people of Pakistan."
The spokesperson added that China was "ready to work with the Pakistani side to actively promote construction of CPEC projects, and bring tangible benefits to the peoples of the two countries".
A two-member delegation of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf comprising former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and MNA Dr Shireen Mazari met the Chinese ambassador on Friday. Sharing details of his meeting, Qureshi told The Express Tribune that "we gave an assurance to the ambassador that we don't have any issue with China and we are in favour of the CPEC". We also assured that we will not do any politics on this project and will support its completion," he said.
"(But) we have reasonable doubts about the federal government. The PML-N government is not taking us into confidence on many issues," he added. Qureshi said it was pledged in an all parties' conference (APC) that the western route would be completed first. He accused the government of retreating from this pledge.
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