“We want to work with the Chinese openly, and now I don’t know what will happen to that,” Sharif said yesterday in Islamabad on the fourth day of an emergency session of parliament. He called for the opposition to set aside differences to preserve democracy.
Pakistan’s history of coups and its “fragile” democracy increase the vulnerability of an economic overhaul that’s essential for loan disbursements from the International Monetary Fund, Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday. Xi is scheduled to visit India this month -- Pakistan’s traditional rival -- as the Chinese leader looks to counterbalance India’s deepening relationship with Japan.
“Chinese investment not coming through can be a serious setback for projects including coal power plants,” Umair Naseer, economist at Global Securities Pakistan Ltd., said by phone from Karachi.
“We are close with China, and this can just be a delay, but all depends on the situation in the capital improving.”
China is Pakistan’s largest trading partner, with total trade in 2013 valued at $15.3 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Talks to Continue
Protesters led by opposition party leader Imran Khan and cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri have been camping in Islamabad since mid-August, alleging that last year’s general elections were rigged and demanding Sharif’s resignation. Clashes with police that began Aug. 30 killed three people and injured about 500 when demonstrators tried to move toward Sharif’s residence, prompting the military to ask politicians to end the strife.
Representatives of Khan and the government were scheduled to meet again today for talks after negotiators for the two sides late yesterday said they were making progress.
Late yesterday, Khan also said he was moving the site of the demonstration to its previous location in front of the nation’s parliament, the so-called D-Chowk, and away from the road near Sharif’s house.
The KSE100 Index rose 3.3 percent in the past week, the most in three months, on indications the talks may resolve the standoff. The gauge tumbled about 6 percent last month, the biggest drop in three years.
‘Domestic Stability’
Xi’s visit has been postponed, Sharif foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz said in a phone interview in Islamabad yesterday without elaborating.
“China hopes there will be efforts in Pakistan to ensure domestic stability,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters in Beijing yesterday. The timing of Xi’s trip to Pakistan hasn’t been finalized, he said.
Xi will probably visit India in the third week of September and exact dates will be announced when both countries are ready, Indian foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said last month. Prime Minister Narendra Modi traveled to Japan in August to boost ties, with both nations embroiled in territorial disputes with an increasingly assertive China.
Source: Bloomberg News by Faseeh Mangi and Kamran Haider
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