BEIJING, May 13 (INP): The government and the people of Chjina still remember and highly value the support that Pakistan had extended in overcoming Sichuan earthquake disaster in 2008.

A report published by Gwadar Pro on Wednesday, staed Yesterday (12th) is the 12th anniversary of 2008 China Sichuan Earthquake which has caused a total of 69,227 deaths, 374,643 injuries, 17,923 missing and it is considered as one of the most destructive catastrophe of China. On that occasion, it is Pakistan that immediately reacted to support China to overcome such a disaster. In the last 12 years, friendship between Pakistan and China has been constantly sublimated. After the Sichuan Earthquake, the Pakistani government immediately responded and donated several batches of relief supplies, gross worthy over 7 million RMB (over 110 hundred million Rs.) to the disaster area. Within four days after the earthquake, Pakistan mobilized all of the transport aircrafts, invoked funds from national reserves and emptied reserves of disaster supplies to support China.

On May 16th, 2008, two Pakistani air force C-130 transport planes arrived at Sichuan China with rescue team and supplies. Zhang Chunxiang, a former Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, confirmed that during the Sichuan earthquake, Pakistan has sent 22,260 tents which were entirety of war readiness inventory of Pakistan to China. Recently, Yao Jing, Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, said that “The friendship between China and Pakistan has been stabilized by catastrophe again.” Both Sichuan Earthquake and COVID-19 outbreak are catastrophe of China and Pakistan. Li Jingfeng, a researcher at the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences (SASS) who has studied Pak-China relations for a long term, also said that friendship between Pakistan and China has deeply rooted in the hearts of people, each disaster can be considered as a catalyst to unite two countries. “At the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Chinese audiences given the Pakistani team an impassioned standing ovation to thank Pakistan for their selfless help during the Sichuan Earthquake. The standing ovation from Chinese audiences was a concrete manifestation of the sublimation of China-Pakistan friendship,” said Li. “CPEC project initiated by China has helped Pakistan a lot in recent years. For example, the problem of power shortage of Pakistan has been alleviated and infrastructure of transportation has been significantly improved.

A few months ago, a plague of locusts hit Pakistan, and China sent experts to support it. As COVID-19 is spreading worldwide, China and Pakistan have fully supported each other to combat against the pandemic,” he exemplified, “All of those facts are continuation and sublimation of friendship between Pakistan and China after the Sichuan Earthquake,” the report added.