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  • Dec, 27th, 24

XINHUA-PAKISTAN SERVICE

Pakistan needs to give extra care to safety of Chinese citizens: Cheng XizhongBreaking

February 22, 2018

BEIJING, Feb 22 (INP): Pakistan and China needed to give extra care to the safety of the Chinese citizens in wake of inimical forces repeating attempts to hamper the growing cooperative partnership between the two countries. In practical terms, it's important that the host government and cooperative partners should take primary responsibility for the safety of Chinese-funded enterprises, institutions and their personnel, said Cheng Xizhong, adviser to the Overseas Security Service Specialized Committee of the Beijing Security Association According to Cheng, State-owned enterprises and private enterprises were already paying increasing attention to the safety of institutions and personnel of overseas Chinese-funded enterprises. They have constantly studied and perfected their safety precautions. Some overseas construction projects of Chinese-funded enterprises are backed by government aid and some are commercial ventures. However, regardless of this difference, they are helping the social and economic development of the country where they are located. Thus, local military and security departments are entirely responsible for the security of Chinese-funded enterprises and institutions. This point must be clearly made when signing government agreements or commercial contracts. In the meantime, Chinese-funded enterprises and institutions should maintain close communication with the military and security authorities in the country of residence throughout the construction process. They should keep in close contact with administrative, military and police intelligence units, mass organizations and local overseas Chinese. They should donate funds to local schools, hospitals and communities when conditions permit and hold some recreational activities to create a safe and harmonious working and living environment. Of course, overseas Chinese-funded enterprises and institutions should attach great importance to safety precautions, closely follow the local security situation, formulate and continually improve their contingency plans, strictly enforce safety precautions and regulations and take steps to secure staff living quarters, project sites and personnel travel routes. Early in February, a shooting incident took place in Karachi, Pakistan. Chen Zhu, an employee of an affiliate of China's COSCO Shipping Lines in Pakistan was killed. Global terrorist activities are rampant, and fighting them is difficult for the international community. Although ISIS has retreated in the Middle East, terrorist threats in other regions are pressing harder and harder. In spite of some international progress, a number of countries are still in a predicament over terrorism. The B&R initiative faces a complicated and serious security situation. In recent years, overseas Chinese-funded institutions and personnel have been frequently victimized by terrorist attacks, armed hijackings and criminal activities. Some of these incidents have resulted in deaths. This is an alarming situation and the all stake-holders needed to adopt more comprehensive strategy to foil the enemies’ attempts that meant to create hindrance in the socio-economic development. INP/J/AH