Pakistan, China to cooperate in fighting terrorism

Pakistan will strengthen economic, defense and anti-terrorism cooperation with China, and promised to guarantee the security of Chinese nationals in the country, the chairman of Pakistan’s Senate told Chinese reporters yesterday.

Senate Chairman Farooq Hamid Naek said, “We guarantee we are doing our best to ensure Chinese nationals are safe and secure” because they have contributed a lot to the development of Pakistan and stayed there “despite suffering losses, even their lives. When we are protecting them, we are protecting our own Pakistan.”

Regarding China’s handling of the July 5 riots in Urumqi, Naek suggested that “We support the stand taken by the Chinese government. We are against terrorism and separatism. Violence has got to be suppressed, and justice has to be done. Pakistan has blocked the meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in this regard.”

Naek pointed out that Pakistan and China could cooperate in many fields, such as sports, media and people-to-people exchanges, while giving priority to the economy, defense, and combating terrorism, separatism and extremism.

“Pakistan and China are old and trusted friends, and our friendship dates back five decades,” he said, adding that the friendship has been strengthened by many great Pakistani leaders, such as former President Pervez Musharraf, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, the current Prime Minister.

Asked by the Global Times about the purpose of his visit, the chairman said he was leading a delegation of senators to China to “renew and strengthen the ties and friendship between the two countries.”

The senate chairman arrived in Shanghai on July 10 and inspected the Pakistan Pavilion for the Shanghai Expo 2010 there. He met with China’s top legislator Wu Bangguo and top political advisor Jia Qinglin in Beijing early this week.

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Pakistani army arrests 18 more suspected terrorists

ISLAMABAD-- The Pakistani security forces have apprehended 18 more suspected terrorists while destroying a number of their bunkers and tunnels in northwest Pakistan's Swat and Malaknd districts, the army said in an update issued on Friday. The security forces conducted search and clearance operations in various parts of Swat and Dir and apprehended some weapons, the army said. Meanwhile on Friday the third phase of the internally displaced persons (IDPs)' repatriation to their native towns started while as many as 9,000 families have been dispatched to their homes at the end of the second phase of IDPs' repatriation.According to reports, a total of 5002 families returned to Swatand Buner from Mardan and Swabi on the last day of second phase while 460 families among them were dispatched officially.Most of the other family members of IDPs returned Swat and Buner through their personal sources, unit said.The army said repatriation for Mingora city has also started. It is expected that the entire process of repatriation will complete in period of 14 days as per announcement of the government.

Pakistani army arrests 18 more suspected terrorists

ISLAMABAD-- The Pakistani security forces have apprehended 18 more suspected terrorists while destroying a number of their bunkers and tunnels in northwest Pakistan's Swat and Malaknd districts, the army said in an update issued on Friday. The security forces conducted search and clearance operations in various parts of Swat and Dir and apprehended some weapons, the army said. Meanwhile on Friday the third phase of the internally displaced persons (IDPs)' repatriation to their native towns started while as many as 9,000 families have been dispatched to their homes at the end of the second phase of IDPs' repatriation.According to reports, a total of 5002 families returned to Swatand Buner from Mardan and Swabi on the last day of second phase while 460 families among them were dispatched officially.Most of the other family members of IDPs returned Swat and Buner through their personal sources, unit said.The army said repatriation for Mingora city has also started. It is expected that the entire process of repatriation will complete in period of 14 days as per announcement of the government.

China leads world toward recovery

China's economic growth rate shot up in the second quarter fueled by government spending and bank lending, boosting hopes that the biggest emerging economy will lead the way out of the worst global downturn since the 1930s.

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth accelerated in the second quarter, to 7.9 percent from 6.1 percent in the first quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said yesterday.

A string of accompanying NBS data for June depicted an economy successfully making up for a slump in exports through domestic demand, especially capital spending, generated by a 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) pump-priming package and record bank lending.


The data laid a foundation for hitting the year's growth target of 8 percent, the minimum deemed necessary to hold down unemployment, NBS spokesman Li Xiaochao said.

"We see more people shopping and prices beginning to rise. The economy is recovering and the recovery is intensifying. All the government's policies have worked together to help us overcome the financial crisis," Li said.

Economists had forecast 7.5 percent growth, and several promptly responded to yesterday's figures by raising their projections for this year and next year.

"We see clear upside risks to our current GDP growth forecast of 8.3 percent for 2009," said Song Yu and Qiao Hong at Goldman Sachs. They said the second quarter's 7.9 percent growth translated into a 16.5-percent pace compared with the first quarter when expressed as a seasonally adjusted annualized rate.

Frank Gong, head of China research with JP Morgan Chase, raised his GDP forecasts, to 8.4 percent from 7.8 percent for 2009, and to 9.0 percent from 8.5 percent for 2010.

The analysts said if they simply keep the previous quarter-on-quarter assumptions for the third and fourth quarters, the implied annual GDP growth will reach 8.9 percent, comparable to its level in 2008.

The recovery, however, was not yet on a solid footing and the economy was growing below potential, the NBS spokesman warned.

"Prices were still falling; overall demand was weak; some industries faced overcapacity; and the industry use rate was low," Li said.

The consumer price index declined by 1.7 percent year-on-year in June from a negative 1.4 percent in May, while the producer price index fell by 7.8 percent year-on-year in June from a negative 7.2 percent a month earlier.

But analysts said that while prices would likely continue to fall in the coming months on a year-on-year basis, deflation is unlikely to become a long-term trend.

"China's expansionary monetary policy, coupled with rebounding commodity and asset market prices, suggest that China will emerge from deflation in the second half of 2009," Li Jianfeng, an analyst with Shanghai Securities, said.

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Four die in Pakistan 'drone raid'

A missile, suspected to have been fired by a US drone, has killed four people in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region, intelligence officials say.

The missile struck a house about 30km (19 miles) from Miranshah, the district's main town.

The identity of the dead was not immediately known, officials said.

The region is known as a haven for Taliban and al-Qaeda militants and the US has carried out dozens of attacks in the area in recent months.

Pakistan has been publicly critical of drone attacks. The government says that they fuel support for the militants.

Most of the strikes have taken place in the tribal regions of North and South Waziristan.

The region is the stronghold of Pakistan's top Taliban commander, Baitullah Mehsud.

The US military does not routinely confirm drone attacks but the armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are believed to be the only forces capable of deploying drones in the region.

In March, US President Barack Obama said his government would consult Pakistan on drone attacks.