Mushahid honoured with award for 'Outstanding Contribution to Pakistan China Public Diplomacy'
Date : September 01, 2013
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BEIJING, September 1: Chairman, Pakistan- China Institute,Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed was honoured today by China's top Tsinghua University with an award for his 'Outstanding Contribution to Pakistan China public diplomacy'.
The award was given by Ms Yang Yanyi, Assistant Minister in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Professor Li Xiguang, Director Tsinghua University International Centre for Communication during a seminar of China Pakistan Think Tanks held today in Beijing, Capital of China. In the citation for the Award, Tsinghua University listed the singular and proactive role of Senator Mushahid Hussain in his capacity as Chairman of the Pakistan-China Institute, established since 2009 as a non-governmental, non-political and non-party organisation to launch people-to-people initiatives between Pakistan and China. The Pakistan-China Institute has become the principal non-official platform to promote relations between the two countries in culture, education, youth, women, media, Chinese language promotion as well as other areas of relations between the two peoples. Pakistan-China Institute has a daily newsletter, Nihao-Salam, providing information on current developments in bilateral relations, the only organisation providing such a public service on relations with China, and is the first Pakistani organisation to have a bilingual website, youlinmagazine.com, in both English and Chinese, apart from a joint venture to publish a cultural monthly.
The seminar was organized by China's Tsinghua University, International Center for Communication, and it was attended by leading scholars, intellectuals and former policy makers of both countries. The seminar highlighted prospects of Strategic Cooperation between the China and Pakistan after the announcement of China Pakistan Economic corridor by the premieres of China and Pakistan in July 2013.
Tsinghua University Professor Li Xiguang also unveiled his 'Information Corridor' to supplement the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor. The prominent participants from China and Pakistan emphasized the need to build a communication platform for academia, industry and policy circles to conduct research on China-Pakistan relations and policy making besides focusing on the practical issues such security, industrialization, Sino-Pakistan economic partnership in new period and directions of future development of bilateral relations. In his address to the Seminar, Senator Mushahid Hussain thanked the Tsinghua University for honouring him and referred to his 'romance with China which began when I first visited China as a teenager in 1970.' Since then, he has made over 40 visits to China, seeing its remarkable transformation in so short a time. He also talked about the regional context of Pakistan-China relations which was defined today by what he called as 'three new realities'. First, the shift in the balance of economic and political power from the West to the East in the 'Asian Century' which is marked by China's peaceful rise. Second, Senator Mushahid Hussain introduced the concept of a 'Greater South Asia' that included not just the seven subcontinental states but countries like China, Myanmar, Afghanistan and Iran, with a new regionalism driven by energy and economy. Third, he warned about the emergence of what he termed as the 'New Great Game', a reversion to the Cold War mentality, which now focused on 'containment and encirclement of China', with American planes being deployed in Australia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Trivandrum in southern India. He said China posed no threat to any country and said any new Cold War would retard Asia's rise. He also opposed any new war in the Muslim World, and condemned war-mongering over Syria. Scholars from Pakistan's top academic centers, think tanks and universities like Pakistan- China Institute, Comsats and NUST participated in the seminar.
On the security front, both the Chinese and Pakistan foreign policy experts stressed the need to enhance bilateral cooperation between China and Pakistan after American troops start leaving Afghanistan in 2014.
On the economic front, they underlined the need to establish rail links, roads, fiber optics, linkages of universities for industrialization and economic development. Chinese Scholars were of the view that China can help Pakistan to cope with the current energy crisis weakening the economy of Pakistan, a trust worthy friend of China.
They said that Gwadar deep port can play vital role of a trade gateway boosting Sino-Pakistan economic cooperation, linking South East Asia and Middle East.
In the concluding remarks, scholars stressed to increase China-Pakistan cooperation in economy, technology, education and culture that would further boost people to people contacts paving a way to set up a new era of long lasting China Pakistan friendship, and they urged the need to provide security to Chinese experts working in Pakistan, as well as the need to ensure implementation of all agreements and MOUs signed with China.