Thursday, April 16, 2015
Chelsea Clinton Gets Ready to Take the Stage
Sam Frizell
Chelsea has stepped up since her mother's first presidential bid
Shortly after a ferocious earthquake rocked Haiti in January 2010, Chelsea Clinton arrived near Port-au-Prince. With a small group of health workers she toured a makeshift camp where the newly homeless slept under tarps and hastily built tents and used open latrines.
“Her father would probably kill me,” Dr. Paul Farmer, the renowned global health worker who accompanied Chelsea, told TIME. “I don’t think he would have been happy with me taking her into a crowded camp.” Chelsea then advised Farmer to set up a hospital to train Haitian doctors and nurses, quietly helping connect the hospital with logistical support and international aid. “She’s a good person to have around you in a bad situation,” Farmer said.
There have always been two sides to the Clinton family. The public-facing side, most often personified by Bill, is out on the stump, hustling for votes and selling the latest policy ideas. The private-facing side, most often personified by Hillary, works behind the scenes, connecting key players and diving deep into the wonkish details.
To date, Chelsea Clinton’s forte has been outside the spotlight, working with people like Farmer and international charities. At the Clinton Foundation, where she is now vice chair, she has a reputation as a data nerd who will dig into briefs to see if money is being spent efficiently and effectively. Aside from campaign appearances for her mother in 2008 and a stint at NBC News, she’s done most of her work away from the public eye.
That’s about to change. As Hillary Clinton launches the largest Democratic presidential campaign in American history, her daughter will be close by. Democrats say that Chelsea will give a big boost to the campaign, making her mother seem more approachable and adding a valuable surrogate spokeswoman.
“She’s definitely someone I expect will be in the center of the room and commanding an audience in a way she may not have wanted to eight years ago,” said a source close to the campaign. “She’s obviously grown up a lot since 2008.”
Chelsea has experience on the stump. Her part in the 2008 campaign began when she quit her job to represent her mother’s on the trail, eventually doing more than 400 events in 40 states over the course of five months, she said in an interview with TIME in 2012. As a liaison between her mother and millennial voters, Chelsea said the experience reminded her “that politics has to be part of any solutions for the future,” she later recalled, and that “everyone needed to participate and have their voices heard at the ballot box.”
As 2016 approaches, however, Chelsea’s role will likely grow. She’ll be in demand during the campaign: Americans increasingly want female candidates to talk about their families, according to the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, a nonpartisan group that researches women in politics.
“It’s believable and real when you’re talking about your kids and grandkids,” said Adrienne Kimmell, executive director of the Barbara Lee foundation. “Voters connect with that.”
Hillary appears to have taken note, and has discussed her family often in the recent months. “I have a new granddaughter, and I want her to have every opportunity. But I want every child in our country to have every opportunity,” she said at a campaign stop this week in Monticello, Iowa, on Tuesday. “And that’s one of the main reasons that I decided to run.”
With her mother likely to focus on her family and her personal life more in this campaign than eight years, Chelsea will be a key voice. The mother-daughter duo’s connection on stage is apparent: Hillary calls her daughter “Chels,” and Chelsea feels comfortable correcting her mother. Chelsea’s natural connection with younger voters makes her an important complement on the campaign trail to her 67-year-old mother. Emily Lobbato, a 22-year-old who saw Chelsea and her mother at an event last month, says “Chelsea and Hillary remind me of me and my mom.”
Since 2008, Chelsea has also played an increasingly active role in the family business. She has become a force at her family’s $2 billion philanthropy, the Clinton Foundation, appearing on stage at a number of events. Behind the scenes, she advocated for a data and metrics office, as well as a partnership with the high-end data company Palantir, a stats review to help inform Foundation projects. She also pushed for organizational overhauls and implementing a 2011 Simpson Thacher review recommendations for tighter fiscal oversight.
Eric Braverman, recently CEO of the Foundation, worked previously with Chelsea at the consultancy McKinsey & Company. She’s also ruffled some feathers along the way, primarily the old guard at the Foundation who saw Chelsea as the face of change as it expanded. In 2013, the foundation was renamed the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Foundation.
“Chelsea has her own background and her own political savvy,” said Democratic strategist Celinda Lake. “She’s part of the multi-generational Clinton story. She’s a major asset.”
Much like her mother, Chelsea is a private operator, eschewing media attention except in controlled scenarios. The account of her visit to Haiti in 2010 with Farmer was never reported, and neither has much of her humanitarian work with the Foundation. During the 2008 campaign, she mostly stuck to a script and avoided speaking to reporters at campaign stops. In one case, she even refused a question from a nine-year-old reporter from Scholastic News. “I’m sorry, I don’t talk to the press and that applies to you, unfortunately—even though I think you’re cute,” Chelsea said at the time.
If Chelsea is vulnerable to criticism, it’s an essentially Clintonian one: however committed to public service she may be, she lives a protected life. She and her husband Marc Mezvinsky, a hedge fund manager, bought a Manhattan condominium for reportedly over $9 million. She earned a $600,000-per-year salary working as a correspondent at NBC News, and her and Mezvinsky’s wedding reportedly cost $5 million.
But if some criticize the Clintons for being too cozy around wealth and power in Washington and New York, Chelsea has so far appeared to escape such scrutiny, in part because she has learned to play the public-facing side better.
In an unscripted moment at a Clinton Foundation event in Miami, Chelsea mentioned a study that shows there are more men named John, Robert, William or James on corporate boards than there are total women corporate directors. Upon hearing that statistic, Hillary, who was on stage with Chelsea, joked, “sounds like we need to change our names!” Chelsea emphatically cut in to raucous applause: “No, we need to change the system.”
Michelle Bernardino, a 24-year-old student who attended the presentation said afterwards, “That’s what sticks with me,” Bernardino said of Chelsea’s role. “That it’s about changing the institutions.”
Hillary Clinton Lauds ‘Progressive Champion’ Elizabeth Warren in Time 100
By Eric Levenson
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton praises Sen. Elizabeth Warren as a “progressive champion” in Time magazine as part of its annual “100 Most Influential People.”
Clinton calls Warren a “special kind of leader” and lauds her ability to rankle the powerful — including, she notes, herself.
It was always going to take a special kind of leader to pick up Ted Kennedy’s mantle as senior Senator from Massachusetts—champion of working families and scourge of special interests.Elizabeth Warren never lets us forget that the work of taming Wall Street’s irresponsible risk taking and reforming our financial system is far from finished. And she never hesitates to hold powerful people’s feet to the fire: bankers, lobbyists, senior government officials and, yes, even presidential aspirants.
It’s altogether similar language that Clinton used to praise Warren back in October, when the two gave speeches in Boston to support Martha Coakley’s bid for governor.
“I love watching Elizabeth give it to those who deserve to get it,” Clinton said then. She also called Warren a “passionate champion for working people and middle class families.”
Both Warren and Clinton appear on Time’s list in the Leaders category. Clinton’s blurb is written by Laurene Powell Jobs.
Afghanistan seeks India's help to empower women
Afghan First Lady Rula Ghani on Thursday sought India's help to impart skill training to women back home in a bid to empower them.
In an interactive session organised by FICCI Ladies Organisation here, Rula Ghani said India has a lot of women entrepreneurs and maybe some of them can train women in Afghanistan.
"Women (in Afghanistan) need to be trained but they may not be able to visit India due to financial problem or their families may not allow them to leave the country but maybe somebody can go from here (India) for a week at a time to train them," said Rula Ghani, wife of Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani.
"A woman is not respected unless she is a productive member of society and that means she has to produce something... no matter how much she toils at home, nobody is going to recognise that.
"If she learns to do some embroidery or other skills which she can use then she can earn the respect of others. I am here to try and explore opportunities," she said adding that "mindsets need to be changed".
Rula Ghani said the new government in Afghanistan was determined to ensure "serious development" as the country has a "long way to go before it can provide comfort to its citizens".
"Afghanistan is entering a new phase and there is a lot of thinking. 90 percent of our population needs help but we will develop sure."
She also mentioned the close historical ties between India and Afghanistan.
"The two countries have been so close in history and we have many common ties historically and culturally," Rula Ghani said, adding that Bollywood films were "very popular" in Afghanistan.
Thousands attend funeral of Pakistani boy set on fire because he was a Christian
Around 2,000 people attended the funeral yesterday of a 15-year-old Pakistani boy who was set on fire, allegedly because he said he was a Christian.
Nauman Masih was attacked by two men outside the tailor's shop where he was working in Lahore on Friday. He told police that they had approached him and asked him if he was a Christian, and when he said that he was, they beat him, poured Kerosene on him and set him on fire.
He died of his injuries in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Doctors had originally said that although 55 per cent of his body was burnt in the attack, they expected him to make a good recovery.
However yesterday he was taken for plastic surgery and afterwards told that he had a 50 per cent chance of survival, Mehwish Bhatti, Pakistan officer for the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), told Christian Today.
The funeral was held at the St Ignatius Catholic Church in Shera Kot, a district of Lahore, The Express Tribune reports. Father Samson Dilawar led the service, and a number of other Christian leaders also attended.
"Nouman was brave throughout his pain and spoke of forgiveness for his attackers. He dies a martyr and will no doubt be with the Lord today," BPCA chairman Wilson Chowdhry said in a statement yesterday. "Please pray for his family who have had to endure 5 days of extreme heartache and can expect little justice."
Nauman's father died when he was young, and his mother remarried. His uncle and aunt took him into their care, and Nauman referred to them as his parents.
His uncle, Nadeem Masih, told Bhatti that Nauman was "just like his son" and it was very hard to lose him. Bhatti said he was crying as he spoke on the phone yesterday.
The attackers were masked when the incident took place, making it unlikely that they will be caught.
Nadeem said that the authorities have shown little interest in pursuing the case, but Bhatti told Christian today that he would go to the police station after the funeral.
Enan, one of Nauman's friends, told the Express Tribune: "We request Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to ensure that Nauman Masih is given justice and the men who set him on fire are punished according to law."
The BPCA has set up a donation fund to help the family with the costs of the funeral and to provide them with bereavement counselling.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/thousands.attend.funeral.of.pakistani.boy.set.on.fire.because.he.was.a.christian/52186.htm
Pakistan: Members of Ahmadi minority are murdered with impunity
Eleven Pakistani members of the Ahmadi religious minority were murdered for their faith in 2014 and authorities failed to apprehend any of the killers, a report said yesterday, highlighting growing intolerance toward the sect. The figure represents a rise on seven killings the year before, with the report blaming growing hate speech in conferences and the media. Ahmadis were declared non- Muslims by the Pakistani government in 1974 because of their belief in a prophet after Muhammad.
They are frequent victims of discrimination and violent assaults, but it is rare for militants to be convicted for attacks against them. In the worst case of violence last year, an angry mob torched an Ahmadi neighborhood in the eastern city of Gujranwala, killing a woman and two girls after a 17- year-old Ahmadi boy allegedly posted a blasphemous picture on Facebook. The boy remains in custody over the incident, the report said, though none of the attackers were ever brought to justice.
In May, gunmen shot dead an American heart surgeon, Mehdi Ali, who was visiting Pakistan on a charity mission in the southern province of Sindh. The report, drawn up by the main Ahmadi community group, claimed a link between inflammatory media coverage and violence. It noted an episode of a religious show by broadcaster Aamir Liaquat Hussain on the popular Geo News channel which blamed “Ahmadis, Jews and the US” for a Taliban massacre at a school in Peshawar. Five days after it was aired, another Ahmadi was murdered. Rabia Mehmood, a researcher on minorities at the Jinnah Institute think tank, said that rising anti-Ahmadi sentiments were linked to the overall rising levels of religious extremism in the country, which has been experiencing a homegrown Islamist insurgency for more than a decade. “There has been a sharp rise in the number of hate conferences organized against Ahmadis, which have helped normalize hatred and bigotry among the general population,” she said.
In 2010, Taliban gunmen stormed two Ahmadi mosques, killing more than 90 people in the worst ever attack on the community. Since that time, many Ahmadis have taken to hiding their identity in public or have fled the country, said Mustafa Qadri, a researcher for Amnesty International. “No group faces more persecution, more discrimination, and is more at risk than Ahmadis, in law and in practice,” he said.
http://ahmadiyyatimes.blogspot.com/2015/04/pakistan-members-of-ahmadi-minority-are.html
They are frequent victims of discrimination and violent assaults, but it is rare for militants to be convicted for attacks against them. In the worst case of violence last year, an angry mob torched an Ahmadi neighborhood in the eastern city of Gujranwala, killing a woman and two girls after a 17- year-old Ahmadi boy allegedly posted a blasphemous picture on Facebook. The boy remains in custody over the incident, the report said, though none of the attackers were ever brought to justice.
In May, gunmen shot dead an American heart surgeon, Mehdi Ali, who was visiting Pakistan on a charity mission in the southern province of Sindh. The report, drawn up by the main Ahmadi community group, claimed a link between inflammatory media coverage and violence. It noted an episode of a religious show by broadcaster Aamir Liaquat Hussain on the popular Geo News channel which blamed “Ahmadis, Jews and the US” for a Taliban massacre at a school in Peshawar. Five days after it was aired, another Ahmadi was murdered. Rabia Mehmood, a researcher on minorities at the Jinnah Institute think tank, said that rising anti-Ahmadi sentiments were linked to the overall rising levels of religious extremism in the country, which has been experiencing a homegrown Islamist insurgency for more than a decade. “There has been a sharp rise in the number of hate conferences organized against Ahmadis, which have helped normalize hatred and bigotry among the general population,” she said.
In 2010, Taliban gunmen stormed two Ahmadi mosques, killing more than 90 people in the worst ever attack on the community. Since that time, many Ahmadis have taken to hiding their identity in public or have fled the country, said Mustafa Qadri, a researcher for Amnesty International. “No group faces more persecution, more discrimination, and is more at risk than Ahmadis, in law and in practice,” he said.
http://ahmadiyyatimes.blogspot.com/2015/04/pakistan-members-of-ahmadi-minority-are.html
Pakistan - PPP Kaira advises Muslim countries against ‘exporting their revolutions’
https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Thursday that Muslim countries must avoid taking their ‘ideologies and revolutions’ to other countries and learn from Pakistan’s past mistakes.
Speaking to media representatives, he said that the Muslim countries should not engage in proxy wars in other countries.
“These countries should learn from Pakistan which is at a loss for indulging in these activities in the past,” he said.
The statement comes against the backdrop of Saudi Arabia’s request for military assistance, including ground troops, fighter jets and navy vessels to join the coalition forces in the Yemen operation.
Pakistan has been trying to play the role of a mediator in the Yemen conflict, viewed as a regional power struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Last week, Pakistan’s parliament voted for the country to stay neutral in the Yemen conflict, urging the government not send Pakistani troops to join Saudi-led coalition forces fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The unanimous resolution, passed on April 10 after a week debate during a joint parliamentary session, also vowed that Pakistan would come to Saudi Arabia’s defence if the country’s sovereignty or territorial integrity is threatened.
Pakistan - Islamic State leaflets found at shooting site of 'US national' in Karachi
A woman identified by police as a US national was shot and wounded in Karachi Thursday, officials said, with leaflets found at the scene claiming the attack on behalf of the Islamic State group.
The victim, in a stable condition after being shot once in the head and once in the arm, was identified by police as Debra Lobo, a member of faculty at the city’s Jinnah Medical and Dental College.
“Lobo was on her way to the college when her car came under attack by two armed assailants riding on a motorbike on Shaheed-e-Millat Road in the eastern part of the city,” a police official told AFP requesting anonymity.
The incident was confirmed by senior police official Pir Mohammad Shah, who said she was a US national. According to the website of the college, Lobo is an Associate Professor of Community Health Science.
The US embassy has not confirmed the identity or nationality of the victim.
“We’ve seen press reports and are monitoring and looking into the reports,” a spokesperson told AFP.
Shah said messages in English and Urdu were dropped at the scene saying the attack was carried out by the “Lions of Daulah Al-Islamiyyah”, using the Arabic name for the Islamic State group (IS) which has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and the Middle East.
The leaflets, seen by AFP, are plain printed text documents with no IS emblems or insignia and vow more attacks on Americans.
“We shall lie in wait until we ambush you and kill you wherever you may be until we confine and besiege you in America and then God willing, WE WILL BURN AMERICA!!!” the leaflet, seen by AFP, says.
There have been concerns about the IS group tapping support in Pakistan.
Leaflets calling for support of IS jihadists have been seen over recent months in parts of northwest Pakistan and pro-IS slogans have appeared on walls in several cities.
Some disaffected Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan cadres have also said they have switched allegiance to IS, but the true extent of links to the group’s Middle East operations remains unclear.
According to Shah, the assailants fired two bullets, with one passing through one cheek and out of the other, while the second bullet pierced one of her arms.
“She was rushed to a private hospital where doctors say her condition is stable,” he added.
A spokesperson of the Aga Khan Hospital where she was being treated confirmed her condition was stable.
Aseefa Bhutto invites Maryam Nawaz & Reham Khan to join drive against polio
https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com
To further strengthen Pakistan’s efforts to eradicate polio, Ms Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, Rotary International Ambassador for Polio has invited Maryam Nawaz of PML-N and Reham Khan of PTI to join hands with her to accelerate the countrywide polio eradication and ensure that every child is protected from deadly polio virus.
The Following briefing on polio and a meeting with Chief Minister, Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah; Chairperson Polio Cell – Primary Healthcare Programme, Provincial Coordinator for Polio, and Secretary Health, Ms Aseefa Bhutto Zardari resolved to raise awareness and reach out across the parties to strengthen advocacy for polio eradication and ask parents to actively participate in the campaign by giving the two drops to every child under the age of 5.
Pakistan - Afghan refugees
There may be millions of Afghan refugees in Pakistan — a million and a half officially registered and perhaps twice as many unregistered — for decades now, but the state here has been unable to resolve humanitarian considerations on one side and political and emotive aspects on the other.
Now, with the Proof of Registration cards given to Afghan refugees over a decade ago set to expire on Dec 31, the question of what to do next once again confronts the state.
With a meeting of the Pakistan-Afghanistan-UNHCR tripartite scheduled for August, the three long-term solutions will once again be on the table: voluntary repatriation (returning to Afghanistan), resettlement (settling permanently in a third country), and local integration (remaining in Pakistan).
In the past, all hard decisions have been avoided by simply extending the expiration date of the PoR cards — done thrice now. This time, there may be an attempt to try and speed up voluntary repatriation, but conditions in Afghanistan suggest a large-scale voluntary return over the next year is highly unlikely.
That leaves the option of simply extending validity of the PoR cards once again or, as a UNHCR official in Peshawar mooted at a news conference on Tuesday, looking towards some kind of integration of a limited number of Afghan refugees.
The idea behind integration is not to grant citizenship to Afghan refugees with PoR cards, but to accept the reality that being resident in Pakistan with only the barest of legal status leaves them vulnerable to all manner of exploitation here.
From corrupt officials in the state apparatus to having to resort to bribery when interacting with even the private sector in search of basic services, Afghan refugees’ hardships are compounded at every turn.
However, the very suggestion that they be granted more rights here is likely to trigger a political firestorm in the country, given that the long-prevailing national sentiment is for the Afghan refugees to leave Pakistan at the earliest.
Anything that creates a further incentive for the refugees to stay in Pakistan is not just likely to be rejected, it may exacerbate tensions between the Afghan refugees and the communities amidst which they live.
The best idea, then, as ever remains to create the conditions for the refugees themselves to choose to return to Afghanistan.
Barring that, the default option of extending the validity of the PoR will only further defer resolution of a decades-old issue.
Pakistan - University Of Peshawar In Danger
A high-level meeting attended by SSP operations Mian Mohammad Saeed, campus police commandant Mohammad Hussain Khan and army officials on Wednesday examined the situation and decided to increase and strengthen the security.
According to the sources, there were fresh threats to various departments of the university due to which security at the campus is to be further strengthened. Recently some phone calls had been received that showed any unpleasant incident could happen at the campus in the coming few days.
More than 300 policemen deployed at the campuses of the University of Peshawar, University of Engineering and Technology, Agriculture University and Islamia College University. The administration of university already improved the security arrangements at the campus since the Dec 16 incident on Army Public School, Peshawar.
Almost every educational institution has raised boundary walls, installed barbed wire and increased the number of security guards to cope with any bad or unpleasant happening.
Leaves of varsity police cancelled “We can’t take chances. We should be prepared to cope with any eventuality. We suffered due to terrorism and have to take appropriate measure. There was no specific threat to any department or person, and such meetings were part of the routine coordination among the police, army and varsity’s administration” said campus SHO Imran Khan.
According to the sources, due to strict security measures after the APS tragedy had created problems for the people who visit the university daily as only one exit gate opposite to the Khyber Teaching Hospital is being used now. Gate-1 of Islamia College University is closed for vehicles after the incident of kidnapping of its Vice Chancellor Mohammad Ajmal Khan in 2010 and after that people are using only the gate-2 for entry.
The campus had about 52,000 students and 4,000 employees, including teachers and support staff, besides over 100 houses which were being guarded by police. According to them, the university police could not open the Islamia College Gate-1, located near the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education office, as far as the security threats exist.
Regular visitors to the university have to go through a great deal of hassle. Every visitor coming to Islami College University enters at gate-2 and reaches the Coffee Shop from where he takes left to reach the parking area and then go to the university. All this takes about 20 minutes.
According to sources, the police were focusing on the security of campus following information suggesting that terrorists could target it.
Pakistan, Russia to hold first-ever joint military exercise
The agreement was reached during a meeting in Moscow between Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu, Express Tribune reported.
"We agreed to enhance cooperation in both defence industry and military training," Asif was quoted as saying by state-run Russian news agency Sputnik International.
Asif is on an official visit to Moscow to attend a regional security conference. He held talks with the Russian defence minister, during which the two ministers agreed to increase military cooperation in training and import of arms and equipment.
"Joint participation in military exercises will be promoted," the Pakistan defence ministry said in a statement.
The ministers also agreed that conflicts should be resolved through diplomatic means and that use of force must be discouraged and abandoned.
They also reached a consensus that a multi-polar world would ensure peace and balance in international relations.
Pakistan and Russia last year signed a military cooperation agreement to deepen their defence ties and vowed to translate their relationship in "tangible" terms during the first-ever visit of a Russian defence minister in 45 years.
Russian defence minister Shoigu's visit last November to Pakistan came at a very critical juncture as US-led NATO forces drawdown from Afghanistan.
Russia lifted embargoes on providing defence supplies to Pakistan and currently the two sides are working on different options to increase the ties in the defence field.
Chinese president to visit Pakistan, hammer out $46-billion deal
BY KATHARINE HOURELD AND MEHREEN ZAHRA-MALIK
Chinese President Xi Jinping will launch energy and infrastructure projects worth $46 billion on a visit to Pakistan next week as China cements links with its old ally and generates opportunities for firms hit by slack growth at home.
Also being finalised is a long-discussed plan to sell Pakistan eight Chinese submarines. The deal, worth between $4 billion and $5 billion, according to media reports, may be among those signed on the trip.
Xi will visit next Monday and Tuesday, Pakistan's foreign ministry said.
Commercial and defense ties are drawing together the two countries, which share a remote border and long-standing mistrust of their increasingly powerful neighbor, India, and many Western nations.
"China treats us as a friend, an ally, a partner and above all an equal - not how the Americans and others do," said Mushahid Hussain Sayed, chairman of the Pakistanparliament's defense committee.
Pakistan and China often boast of being "iron brothers" and two-way trade grew to $10 billion last year from $4 billion in 2007, Pakistani data shows.
Xi's trip is expected to focus on a Pakistan-China Economic Corridor, a planned $46-billion network of roads, railways and energy projects linking Pakistan's deepwater Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea with China's far-western Xinjiang region.
It would shorten the route for China's energy imports, bypassing the Straits of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia, a bottleneck at risk of blockade in wartime.
If the submarine deal is signed, China may also offer Pakistan concessions on building a refueling and mechanical station in Gwadar, a defense analyst said.
China's own submarines could use the station to extend their range in the Indian Ocean.
"China is thinking in terms of a maritime silk road now, something to connect the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean," said a Pakistani defense official, who declined to be identified.
For Pakistan, the corridor is a cheap way to develop its violence-plagued and poverty-stricken Baluchistan province, home to Gwadar.
China has promised to invest about $34 billion in energy projects and nearly $12 billion in infrastructure.
Xi is also likely to raise fears that Muslim separatists from Xinjiang are linking up with Pakistani militants, and he could also push for closer efforts for a more stable Afghanistan.
"One of China's top priorities on this trip will be to discuss Xinjiang," said a Western diplomat in Beijing. "China is very worried about the security situation there."