China commends Shehbaz's remarks on CPEC

BEIJING: China commended Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's remarks on the construction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), saying that Beijing was ready to work with Islamabad to continue pursuing high-quality development of the corridor, Express Tribune reported.

Chinese Foreign Ministry's Spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Wednesday told his regular briefing that China wanted to build CPEC into a model and a demonstration project of Belt and Road (BRI) cooperation -- the flagship initiative of President Xi Jinping.

"We noted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's remarks on the CPEC and we highly commend that," Zhao said. "China stands ready ... to continue to pursue the high quality development of the economic corridor and build it into a model and demonstration project for high quality BRI cooperation," he said.

In his maiden speech in the National Assembly after winning election on Monday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had said that his government would speed up the construction of CPEC, the major project of the BRI.

Shehbaz had previously spoken highly of the CPEC several times, calling it an ambitious blueprint to transform Pakistan into a major emerging economy so that the less-developed parts of the country could enjoy the dividends of development.