New Delhi: Pakistan and China Tuesday announced a five-point initiative for “restoring peace” in West Asia, as Islamabad attempts to garner support for its proposals to bring a halt to the regional conflict.
The five-point proposal calls for immediate cessation of hostilities, peace talks, security of non-military targets, security of shipping lanes and primacy of the United Nations Charter.
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar’s visit to Beijing and meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi Tuesday also focused on strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries.
“The Pakistan-China All-Weather Strategic Partnership continues to flourish. We had a productive dialogue on further strengthening bilateral ties, advancing cooperation under CPEC 2.0, enhancing high-level exchanges, and jointly celebrating the upcoming 75th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. We also reaffirmed our close coordination in multilateral fora,” Dar said in a statement on X.
“On regional developments, we underscored our shared commitment to peace, stability, dialogue, and diplomacy as the path to resolving challenges. Together, we mutually agreed and issued the Five-Point Initiative of China and Pakistan for Restoring Peace and Stability in the Gulf and Middle East.”
For over a week, Islamabad has been conveying messages between the US and Iran. Tehran has clarified that it is not part of any negotiations to end the war, as it has not accepted the framework for discussions currently ongoing in Islamabad.
However, Pakistan has been able to bring together different countries from the region. On Sunday, Dar hosted the foreign ministers of Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Egypt in an attempt to build further consensus to mediate an end to the conflict.
“China and Pakistan call for immediate cessation of hostilities and utmost efforts to prevent the conflict from spreading. Humanitarian assistance must be allowed to all war-affected areas,” the five-point initiative announced by China and Pakistan states.
“Start of peace talks as soon as possible. Sovereignty, territorial integrity, national independence and security of Iran and the Gulf states should be safeguarded. Dialogue and diplomacy is the only viable option to resolve conflicts. China and Pakistan support the relevant parties in initiating talks, with all parties committing to peaceful resolution of disputes, and refraining from the use or the threat of use of force during peace talks,” it adds.
Islamabad and Beijing further call for the cessation of attacks on non-military targets such as desalination plants, energy infrastructure and “peaceful nuclear infrastructure”. Israel has been striking Iran’s critical infrastructure over the past two weeks, including damaging South Pars, its largest natural gas production facility.
Tehran has in retaliation attacked Qatar’s production facilities for liquefied natural gas (LNG). Kuwait also accused Iran of hitting its desalination and power plant Monday, a claim Tehran has rejected and blamed Israel for.
The call by China and Pakistan to prevent any further hits on Iran’s nuclear power plants comes amid strikes at Bushehr and Natanz plants. Last June, the US and Israel jointly hit Iran’s nuclear facilities in an attempt to disrupt its programme.
“The Strait of Hormuz, together with its adjacent waters, is an important global shipping route for goods and energy. China and Pakistan call on the parties to protect the security of ships and crew members stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, allow the early and safe passage of civilian and commercial ships, and restore normal passage through the Strait as soon as possible,” the five-point initiative states.
The war, which is now almost five weeks in, has led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran. For Pakistan, the Hormuz is central to its own energy needs, with Islamabad imposing rationing across the country due to the war.
The disruption to the global oil route has seen crude prices spike, which is now over $110 a barrel, up almost 50% since the war began.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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