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China condemns attack on its nationals in Pakistan
Three Chinese tutors and a Pakistani driver were killed in a bombing carried out by a woman suicide attacker near Karachi University’s Confucius Institute on Tuesday
China on Wednesday condemned in strong words the attack that killed three citizens in Pakistan, saying “the blood of the Chinese people should not be shed in vain”, and urged Islamabad to crack down on the terror group involved.
Three Chinese tutors and a Pakistani driver were killed in a bombing carried out by a woman suicide attacker near Karachi University’s Confucius Institute on Tuesday. Another Chinese teacher was injured in the attack, a state media report said.
The three Chinese citizens who died were identified as Huang Guiping, Ding Mufang and Chen Sai.
The separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed the attack.
The Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday issued a strongly-worded statement to condemn yesterday’s incident.
“The Chinese side expresses strong condemnation and indignation over this major terrorist attack, and extends deep condolences to the victims and sympathies to the injured and bereaved families,” the statement said.
Assistant foreign minister Wu Jianghao also called the Pakistani ambassador to China to express “extremely grave concern” over the attack.
Wu demanded that Pakistan “should immediately make thorough investigation of the incident, apprehend and punish the perpetrators to the full extent of the law, and take all possible measures to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens in Pakistan and prevent such incidents from happening again”.
“The Chinese foreign ministry and Chinese diplomatic missions in Pakistan will continue to urge relevant Pakistani departments to handle properly the follow-up matters of those killed, treat the injured, and resolutely crack down on the terrorist organization involved,” the statement said.
“The blood of the Chinese people should not be shed in vain, and those behind this incident will surely pay the price,” it added.
The Chinese foreign ministry and diplomatic missions in Pakistan have activated the emergency response mechanism immediately after the incident.
Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad on Tuesday to convey condolences, where he said that the “Pakistani government will conduct an in-depth probe into the incident, give exemplary punishment to the perpetrators, and strengthen security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan in an all-round way”.
Sharif, according to the Chinese statement, said his government will never allow any force to undermine Pakistan-China friendship.
“Local authorities in Sindh and Karachi have launched a full-scale investigation to hunt down the perpetrators,” the statement said.
The Confucius Institute is a Chinese government-run global education programme, and is seen as a way for China to exercise its “soft power”. There are hundreds of similar institutes across the world.
There were five Confucius Institutes and two Confucius Classrooms across Pakistan, according to a report by the official news agency, Xinhua, last year.
Chinese targets have regularly been attacked by separatists from Balochistan, where Beijing is involved in huge infrastructure projects as part of its Belt and Road Initiative.
This is the first major attack targeting Chinese nationals this year, and since July 2021 when nine Chinese and four Pakistanis were killed in a shuttle bus blast in the Kohistan region of northern Pakistan.
