Pakistan closes some Chinese businesses. According to Nikkei Asia, Karachi Police have temporarily shut down some businesses run and frequented by Chinese nationals in the city as they scramble to prevent terrorist attacks that could jeopardize Islamabad’s strategic relationship with Beijing.
This development happened over a month after China “temporarily” closed the consular section of its embassy in Islamabad, days after the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan advised Chinese citizens to be cautious due to the “deteriorating security situation” in Pakistan.
Despite multiple pleas and warnings from Beijing, Pakistani officials appear to be unconcerned about protecting the lives of Chinese residents living in Pakistan.
Interestingly, some reports claim that Islamabad is implicitly urging Beijing to forgive its enormous Chinese loan or extend deadlines in order to prevent a default.
Terrorist groups in Pakistan continue to target Chinese individuals and projects associated with the Chinese-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
A rising number of Pakistanis believe that China is gradually encroaching on its territory in the name of improving its economic status through commercial enterprises, mining activities, and other financial initiatives.
The local administration and security authorities are finding it difficult to contain rising anti-China sentiments among the Pakistani people.
As a result, state authorities are not taking adequate security precautions to protect Chinese nationals. Notably, according to Business Standard, Pakistan cannot afford to fund another dedicated military unit to protect Chinese interests in the nation.
As a result, Beijing is unsatisfied with the current security arrangements and has repeatedly expressed its concerns to Islamabad. And now Pakistan closes some Chinese businesses.
Foreign Minister Qin Gang told his Pakistani counterpart, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, in January that “the Chinese side is highly concerned about the safety of Chinese citizens in Pakistan and hopes that the Pakistani side will continue to take strong security measures.”
Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) governs Sindh province, where militant groups pose the greatest threat to Chinese enterprises and people.
According to media reports, Karachi police sealed up some Chinese firms in mid-March in response to intelligence alerts signaling imminent assaults.
According to one source, “despite repeated warnings, several Chinese-owned businesses failed to implement security protocols, leading to their sealing until satisfactory security arrangements are made,” according to Nikkei Asia.
As a result, local police authorities shut down businesses such as a Chinese restaurant, a supermarket, and a marine product company for failing to follow standard security protocols outlined in the ‘Sindh Security of Vulnerable Establishments Act,’ a provincial law that mandates security arrangements for vulnerable locations, according to Sindhi Laws.
As Pakistan closes some Chinese businesses, it is an embarrassment for both the local and federal governments that necessary security for Chinese enterprises in Karachi, Pakistan’s business capital, has not been provided.
As separatist groups broadened their objectives outside Pakistani governmental institutions and personnel, there have been numerous attacks against Chinese nationals in Karachi.
One of the most notable incidents happened in April 2022, when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb at the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi, killing three Chinese teachers and a Pakistani chauffeur.
According to Al Jazeera, there was also an attack on the building that houses the stock market in June 2020, which is partly owned by a Chinese consortium, as well as an attack on the Chinese Consulate in Karachi in 2018.
The Baloch Liberation Army has claimed responsibility for all three incidents. Last September, an ethnic Chinese cashier was killed at a dental clinic while the dentist and his wife were injured in a shooting. A Sindhi rebel group was suspected to have been responsible for the shooting, reported Samaa TV.
All these targeted attacks suggest that local rebel groups fear that increasing Chinese influence could seriously jeopardize their freedom of movement and freedom to claim their own natural resources.
It is worth noting that, apart from ethnic separatist factions, violent Islamic groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K) have also carried out attacks on Chinese citizens in Pakistan and have threatened them to depart the country, reported Global Times.
A TTP-led suicide bomber hit a bus taking engineers to a construction site near a dam in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kohistan region in July 2021, killing 13 people, including nine Chinese laborers, according to Nikkei Asia.
Pakistan later reimbursed the relatives of the deceased Chinese nationals with millions of dollars, adding to Islamabad’s financial burden.
Furthermore, Beijing is concerned about emerging partnerships between Baloch rebel organizations and the TTP. Furthermore, according to European Eye on Radicalization, both IS-K and Al-Qaeda have issued warnings in their propaganda publications about attacking Chinese citizens.
The deaths of Chinese citizens in Pakistan are raising concern among Chinese businesses and the government of Xi Jinping. These targeted attacks will substantially restrict Chinese investment in Pakistan, causing friction between the two “brotherly” countries.
China has been pressuring Pakistan to allow private Chinese security contractors to operate within its borders. Even if Pakistani authorities force certain Chinese firms to halt operations for their own safety, the problem is unlikely to go away.
As China plans to extend CPEC throughout the region, the security concerns for Chinese nationals in Pakistan and Afghanistan are projected to become increasingly difficult.
Also read: Is China making peace while baring teeth?
On the other hand, A Chinese citizen working for a construction project in Pakistan is under police protection after workers accused him of blasphemy against Islam, according to officials.
