WASHINGTON — China pledged support for Pakistan’s anti-terrorism campaign after Baloch insurgents, with a history of opposing Chinese investments in the region, carried out a series of attacks in the southwestern Baluchistan province Sunday.
More than 40 civilians and military personnel were killed. The military reported killing more than 20 attackers.
The province is home to China-funded mega projects, including the strategic deep-water port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.
Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, condemned the latest attacks.
"China stands prepared to strengthen counterterrorism and security cooperation with Pakistan in order to maintain peace and security in the region,” Lin said during a Tuesday briefing in Beijing.
The insurgent group, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The multiple attacks in the resource-rich but impoverished Baluchistan province coincided with a trip to Pakistan by Li Qiaoming, the Chinese commander of the People's Liberation Army ground forces, who met with Pakistan's army chief General Syed Asim Munir.
“The meeting afforded an opportunity for in-depth discussions on matters of mutual interest, regional security, military training, and measures to further augment bilateral defense cooperation,” said a press release issued by the Pakistani army.
Baloch separatist groups have strongly opposed the China-Pakistan alliance in Baluchistan, launching their third major secession campaign since 2006. They have targeted Chinese interests within and beyond the province. No Chinese were targeted in the latest attacks.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told his Cabinet the attacks aimed to disrupt a multibillion-dollar set of projects in the province known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has said in a statement, “these attacks are a well-thought-out plan to create anarchy in Pakistan.”
Growing violence in cash-strapped Pakistan, especially attacks targeting Chinese nationals and interests, have been a concern for Beijing.
Pakistan has been facing a prolonged debt crisis and has put all its eggs in China’s basket. Beijing had invested around $26 billion in Pakistan under CPEC, said Donald Lu, the U.S. State Department’s assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs, during a congressional hearing last month
“The recent attacks have apparently worried China, but what we see is that China kept pressuring Pakistan in the wake of [a past] attack, instead of helping it out in its fight against militancy," Pakistani analyst Murad Ali told VOA.
He was referring to an attack by an Afghan citizen in March that killed five Chinese engineers.
“These attacks are particularly troubling for China, which has invested heavily in CPEC. The government is not doing enough to stop the violence,” Abdullah Khan, an Islamabad-based security expert, told VOA.
Last month, weeks-long violent demonstrations in Pakistan’s Gwadar port city aggravated concerns about the country’s security situation and its impact on the Chinese projects in the province.
China called on Pakistan in March to eliminate security risks to its nationals following the suicide attack that killed five Chinese engineers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan’s northwestern volatile province.
Following that attack, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian asked Pakistan at a news conference “to conduct speedy and thorough investigations into the attack, step up security with concrete measures, completely eliminate security risks, and do everything possible to ensure the utmost safety of Chinese personnel, institutions, and projects in Pakistan.”
Speaking in Islamabad in October Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong said CPEC had brought more than $25 billion in direct investments to Pakistan, created 155,000 jobs, and built 510 kilometers (316.8 miles) of expressways, 8,000 megawatts of electricity, and 886 kilometers (550.5 miles) of core transmission grids in Pakistan.
This story originated in VOA’s Deewa Service. Ihsan Muhammad Khan and Malik Waqar Ahmed contributed to the story from Pakistan.
