Ties with China cannot be undermined by ‘third countries’ — Pakistani national security adviser

Pakistani labourers arrange a welcome billboard featuring the Chinese and Pakistani national flags ahead of the forthcoming visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 18, 2015. (AFP/File)

• Statement comes after Chinese national wounded in suicide bomb attack in Pakistan last week
• Nine Chinese nationals were killed in July in suicide bombing on bus carrying them to dam construction site

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani national security adviser Dr. Moeed Yusuf has said “third countries” would not succeed in their attempts to undermine ties between Pakistan and longtime ally China.
The statement comes in the wake of last week’s suicide bomb attack in Pakistan on a motorcade carrying Chinese personnel in which one Chinese national was injured and two local children were killed on the Gwadar East Bay Expressway in the southwestern province of Balochistan.
In July, a suicide bomber struck a bus carrying workers to a dam construction site in northern Pakistan, killing 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals.
Pakistan has said an investigation showed there was a “nexus of Indian RAW and Afghan NDS” in the July attack, referring to the two countries’ intelligence agencies.
“The two leaders resolved that the all-weather Pakistan China friendship cannot be undermined by third countries that try to target their bilateral interests,” a statement from Yusuf’s office said on Tuesday, referring to his video conference with China’s Public Security Minister Zhao Kezhi.
“Yusuf added that the perpetrators of terrorist attacks on Chinese nationals working in Pakistan will be brought to justice.”
Pakistan has long accused its old rival India of supporting insurgents inside Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan province in whose south China is developing the deepwater port at Gwadar as part of a $65 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor.
India denies helping Balochistan insurgents and accuses Pakistan of nurturing militants throughout the region. Islamabad denies the charge.
Balochistan, on the borders of Afghanistan and Iran, has rich mineral and natural gas reserves but is Pakistan’s poorest province.
Separatists have for decades campaigned against what they see as the unfair exploitation of resources, in particular natural gas and minerals.