BEIJING, China: Chinese foreign office spokesman released wrong information about President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan on September 5 briefing. The Chinese Foreign Office on Saturday confirmed that the governments of China and Pakistan have mutually agreed to postponement of the state visit of President Xi Jinping to Pakistan, which was scheduled to take place later this month. It may be mentioned that spokesman provided wrong information during his press briefing date September 5 and said there was no schedule visit of Chinese President to Pakistan on agenda therefore there was no question that visit has been postponed while Pakistan Foreign Office was of the view that visit of Chinese President was on agenda and discussed and now visit has been postponed due to political turmoil in Pakistan. Chinese Foreign office on Saturday (that is Off day of Pakistan Foreign Office) released clarification and accepted that viewpoint taken by Pakistan Foreign office was true and there was a schedule visit of Chinese President that has been postponed.
In a statement, the Chinese Foreign Minister Spokesperson Qin Gang said that the decision was taken in view of the current political situation in Pakistan as two opposition political parties the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) have been holding sit-in protests against the incumbent government in Islamabad since mid-August.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Qin Gang’s Remarks on the Postponement of President Xi Jinping’s Visit to Pakistan on September 6, 2014
China and Pakistan have been maintaining communication for some time on President’s Xi Jinping’s state visit to Pakistan in mid September, and have made productive preparation for this visit. In view of the current political situation in Pakistan, the Governments of China and Pakistan have mutually agreed to postponement of the state visit of President Xi Jinping to Pakistan, which was scheduled to take place later this month. New dates for President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan, at an early date, are being finalized through diplomatic channels.
Both countries underline that China and Pakistan are time-tested all-weather friends. Both sides attach high importance to the visit of President Xi Jinping to Pakistan, as early as possible, for promoting mutually beneficial cooperation between the two.
It is pertinent to mention here that contrary to today’s remarks the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Qin Gang at his regular press conference on Friday said that the president Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan was never planned.
It is worth pointing out that we have never released any information about President Xi’s visit to Pakistan officially. So, there is no basis to say we are about to cancel anything, Qin Gang said in response to a question that whether China has cancelled President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan out of security concerns.
Add from Dispatch News Desk Islamabad Office:
Political circles in Islamabad are taking this interesting development as intriguing and question why Chinese Foreign Office gave wrong information about the visit of Chinese President to Pakistan during September 5 briefing and now China has given a new statement and accepting viewpoint of Pakistan government that the visit of Chinese President has been postponed. Wrong information provided by Chinese Foreign office were very much damaging for sitting government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who was blaming political opponents for cancellation of this visit as they are protesting outside parliament of Pakistan creating a political turmoil in the country.
Diplomatic circles in Islamabad believe that Pakistan Foreign Office should tender serious protest to Chinese Foreign Office for providing wrong information that seriously damage the credibility of Pakistan Foreign Office as well as of Pakistan government. Some diplomatic circles claim that Pakistan foreign Office already took notice of this issue and took the issue with top authorities in China therefore Chinese Foreign Office had to released clarification on Saturday that is a weekly Off day in Beijing.
