PM Shehbaz lands in China to attend SCO summit

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday reached Tianjin, China, to participate in a series of high-level events including the 25th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of State Summit and Commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance.

At the Tianjin Airport, he was warmly welcomed by top officials including Minister and Secretary of the CPC Committee of the General Administration of Customs, Sun Meijun; Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Tianjin Municipal People’s Congress and Party Secretary, Yu Yunlin; China’s Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong; and Pakistan’s Ambassador to China, Khalil Hashmi.

The prime minister is accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar, as well as senior government officials.

“At the invitation of H.E. Mr. Xi Jinping, the President of the People’s Republic of China, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif is visiting China from 30 August-4 September 2025 to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of Heads of State Summit being held in Tianjin,” read a statement issued here by the foreign office on Friday.

In China, the PM Shehbaz would hold meetings with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang during which multifaceted dimensions of Pakistan-China bilateral cooperation would be discussed, the foreign office said.

He would also attend the military parade with President Xi and other world leaders being held in Beijing to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the World’s Anti-Fascist War.

The prime minister would interact with reputed Chinese businessmen and corporate executives to discuss bilateral trade, economic and investment ties. He would also address a Pakistan-China B2B Investment Conference in Beijing.

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The visit is a part of leadership-level exchanges between Pakistan and China. It manifests the importance attached by the two countries to further deepen their “All Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership”, reaffirm support on issues of respective core interests, advance Phase-II of CPEC and maintain regular communication on important regional and global developments, read the foreign office statement.

This is the first visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz since the Pakistan-India war in May following the Pahalgam attack. Pakistan emerged victorious when it shot down at least 6 Indian fighter jets including the highly advanced French made Rafale. It was the first time Chinese military hardware was tested on a real battlefield against the western technology.