by Zhao Xiaopeng

 

A bright five-star red flag, an exquisite photo of former Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong, a screen with traditional Chinese landscape painting, and a photo with Chinese President Xi Jinping - these objects with distinctive Chinese features instantly catch your attention when you walk into the house of Mushahid Hussain Syed, Senator and Chairman of the Pakistani Senate's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. On the 70th anniversary of the China-Pakistan relations, reporter from China Economic Net interviewed Senator Hussain on his affiliation with China.

 

 

During President Xi Jinping's state visit to Pakistan in April 2015, he presented the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Friendship Award to Pakistani friendly personages, and Hussain was one of them. Unlike the other laureates, Hussain's story with China dates back to his childhood.

 

Hussain had his first contact with a Chinese leader when he presented a wreath to the then Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, Liu Shaoqi as a youth representative when Chairman Liu visited Pakistan in 1966. Hussain recalled that as soon as Chairman Liu's car arrived on the street, it was surrounded by people waiting on both sides. The cheers and applause were deafening. "I had never seen such a scene. This experience aroused my interest in China, which has continued to this day."

 

A small short-wave radio was Hussain's earliest window into China. "When I was at school, I used to listen to the radio every day, and once I found Beijing Radio Station by chance. This prompted me to research for China-related reading materials, such as Beijing Review, China Pictorial, China Reconstructs, etc. They were essential materials for me to learn more about China."

 

Apart from self-study, Hussain also set up the Listeners' Club of Beijing Radio Stations and the Pakistan-China Friendship Association in his school, hoping to extend the friendship between China and Pakistan to more people. Since his first visit to China in 1970 as the Chairman of the Association, Hussain has made more than 90 trips to China and has dedicated to the cause of China-Pakistan friendship under different roles. 

 

 

Hussain has never stopped advancing China-Pakistan friendship in the past five decades. In 2009, he established a think tank named Pakistan-China Institute (PCI) to implement his pursuits for stronger ties between the Pakistani and Chinese people. In 2012, he launched a bilingual (Chinese and English) magazine, Youlin to showcase the art and culture of the two countries as well as local customs of different areas. In 2015, he held the first annual China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) media forum to respond to and clarify rumors and smears on the CPEC project. In 2019, he established the CPECInfo.com, an information website for CPEC. More recently, at the earlier outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in China, he actively pushed the Pakistani Senate to pass a resolution supporting China's fight against the pandemic.

 

 

Hussain told the reporter, "Pakistan recognized the People's Republic of China in January 1950, as the first country to do so. The two countries formally established diplomatic relations the following year. In 1956, Premier Zhou Enlai visited Pakistan for the first time, which marked the beginning of high-level visits between China and Pakistan."

 

Premier Zhou visited Pakistan four times. During his second visit in 1964, he planted the first Friendship Tree. Since then, almost every Chinese leader has planted a Friendship Tree while visiting Pakistan. Over the past 70 years, thanks to the care of the leaders of both countries, these Friendship Trees have grown into towering trees that are both luxuriant and resilient.

 

"We have welcomed many Chinese leaders since then. With the close high-level exchanges between the two countries, we have also witnessed the China-Pakistan relations constantly advancing to new levels. President Xi's historic visit in 2015 brought China-Pakistan relations to a climax," Hussain said.

 

During President Xi's state visit to Pakistan in April 2015, he issued a joint statement together with Pakistani leaders on establishing an All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership. Pakistan is now China's only "all-weather strategic cooperative partner".

 

"What does ‘all-weather' mean? It means that irrespective of changes in the region, in the world, in China or in Pakistan, the rock-solid China-Pakistan friendship will not be affected at any cost." Hussain said, "Although political parties in Pakistan have varied views and positions, showing friendship for China is a consensus of all parties. The China-Pakistan friendship has long transcended internal disputes."

 

"All-weather" and "iron brothers" are more than just slogans. Hussain said that in 2015, no country was willing to invest in Pakistan, except China. As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed. During President Xi's visit, China and Pakistan signed 51 cooperation agreements and memorandums, more than 30 of which are related to CPEC. This is a vote of confidence by China in the Pakistani people and the future of Pakistan.

 

 

When Hussain first came to China in 1970, he was left with the impression that "China at that time was not prosperous, even less developed than Pakistan." However, in just a few decades, China has become the world's second largest economy and has lifted nearly 100 million people out of poverty, an incredible and miraculous feat not seen anywhere else in history. 

 

"For the first time in its 5,000-year history, only the Communist Party of China has provided the Chinese people with the right to subsistence, the right to development and some other human rights. Through solid economic development, the Chinese people have been free from want and hunger, and can enjoy a happy life. None of these can be achieved without the excellent leadership and governance of the Chinese Party of China," Hussain said.

 

 

In April 2017, the Urdu version of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China translated by the Pakistan-China Institute was published in Pakistan. Hussain expressed the hope that the book would give the Pakistani people a deeper understanding of the development of China, the "Chinese dream" and the governance of China.

 

"I would call it a learning book. President Xi Jinping draws on the thousands of years of wisdom of China, from the days of Confucius to the present times. The Chinese dream, national governance, way of deepening reform, the rule of law, anti-corruption, China's path of peaceful development and some other concepts are discussed in detail in this book. We must understand that China's development is realized through good governance. This is what Pakistan should learn," Hussain commented after reading the whole book.