COAS General Bajwa reaches China on official visit

BEIJING: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday arrived in China on an official visit, ISPR reported.

The Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Asif Ghafoor in a tweet said, “COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa arrived in China today (Monday) on an official visit.”

COAS arrived China on official visit. COAS will meet Chinese mil leadership including PLA Army Commander, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission & Commander Southern Theater Command. COAS will also join PM for meeting with Chinese PM and President.

— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) October 7, 2019

During the visit, the Army Chief will meet Chinese military leadership including PLA Army Commander, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission and Commander Southern Theater Command.

COAS will also join Prime Minister Imran Khan for meeting with Chinese PM and President,” said DG ISPR.

It must be noted that Prime Minister Imran Khan will be visiting China from Oct 8-9 (Tuesday-Wednesday) at an invitation of his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang, the Foreign Office said on Monday.

During the visit, the PM would have meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.

President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang will separately host banquets in honour of the prime minister. A number of agreements/MoUs are expected to be signed at a ceremony to be witnessed by the leaders of the two countries.

Prime Minister Khan will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Khusro Bakhtiyar, the adviser on commerce, the special assistant on petroleum, and Chairman Board of Investment (BOI) and senior officials.

The visit will be instrumental in further cementing Pakistan’s economic, investment and strategic ties with China. Among other things, the PM will apprise the Chinese leadership of the government’s recent landmark decisions to speed-up implementation of ongoing CPEC projects as well as efforts to project CPEC as a High-Quality Demonstration Project of BRI.