by Misbah Saba Malik, Ma Xiaocheng
ISLAMABAD/GUANGZHOU (Xinhua) :Abdul Razzaq Sabir, vice chancellor of the University of Gwadar in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, was awestruck by seeing the infrastructural development during his recent visit to China, and observed that the hard work and commitment of the people and leadership of China is the secret behind the economic miracle.
Sabir was among the 12 members of a delegation, from various walks of life in Pakistan’s southwestern city of Gwadar, which recently had a 10-day trip to China.
The delegation visited Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace, the Bird’s Nest or the National Stadium, the Olympic Park, and the Forbidden City in China’s capital Beijing.
They also traveled to South China’s tech hub Shenzhen in Guangdong Province, visited the Chinese tech giant Huawei, leading new energy vehicle manufacturer BYD, Shenzhen fisheries company, Yantian Port, Southern University of Science and Technology, and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, among others.
Sabir, who led the delegation, said that he visited Beijing in 2005 and the city’s transformation which he witnessed in his latest visit was nothing short of astonishing.
“The skyline has changed dramatically, with towering skyscrapers and modern infrastructure that surpassed my expectations, the city’s efficient public transportation system, urban plantation, and technological advancements were remarkable,” Sabir told Xinhua.
It is evident that Beijing has become a global metropolis at the forefront of innovation and urban development, he said, hoping that the University of Gwadar will be able to sign memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Chinese universities on education cooperation to enable them to play a role in Pakistan’s development.
Sabir said Pakistan and China are paying special attention to economic cooperation. Pakistan was among the first countries to join the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). As a flagship BRI project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) saw tangible results in the past years.
Launched in 2013, the CPEC is a corridor linking the Gwadar port in southwestern Pakistan with Kashgar in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which highlights energy, transport and industrial cooperation.
For Babu Gulab, businessman and former chairman of Gwadar’s Municipal Committee, it was his 10th time visiting China, and on his every visit, he finds something new.
After visiting Shenzhen, Gulab said that it is a smart city, with high-tech companies growing fast. He was impressed by how Huawei’s smartphones and BYD’s electrical buses gained popularity in the international market.
“Shenzhen shows how a small village can achieve by adopting the reform and opening up policy. We have a lot of potential to cooperate, from the fishing industry to other high-tech fields,” Gulab said.
Talking about his impression of Shenzhen, Sabir told Xinhua that he hopes that the fate of his hometown Gwadar will also change with the cooperation with China, like Shenzhen which also used to be a small fishing village and now is a great example of a metropolis to be followed by Pakistan.
The delegation was highly impressed by the warm welcome they received from the Chinese people wherever they visited and felt the depth of Pakistan-China people-to-people relations.
Muneer Notezai, the district education officer in Gwadar, felt that he landed “in my own home after a long journey,” and was overwhelmed by the warmth of friendship for Pakistan he felt in China.
For Notezai, the most striking thing he noticed during his visit was China’s zero-tolerance for corruption, and honesty and work ethics being the key drivers for its success.
“Pakistan can learn a lot from China, eradicating corruption, giving people opportunities to learn modern, opening vistas of employment and opportunities for them through special economic zones, as China did, can bring revolution in Pakistan too, and in this regard cooperation with China will play a great role,” he added.■