ISLAMABAD: China said on Friday that it was still discussing President Xi Jinping’s visit to Islamabad with Pakistani authorities after the Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security told a National Assembly committee that the visit planned for this month had been postponed because of crippling anti-government protests in the federal capital.

The confusion over the visit emerged on Thursday when Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal claimed that the trip had been cancelled.

The adviser, Sartaj Aziz, who had earlier said that the government was trying to save the visit, told the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee that the Chinese government had postponed the visit, which was to take place later this month. He blamed “unfortunate security situation” created by the protests launched by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek for the postponement.

He said that a formal announcement would be simultaneously made from Beijing and Islamabad “later today”.

Though there was no statement from the two capitals till late in the evening, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said that discussions on the trip continued.

“We have maintained high-level exchanges. Both sides are in close communication on the next step of such exchanges...We have never officially released any information about President Xi’s visit to Pakistan. So, there is no basis to say we are about to cancel anything,” Spokesman Qin Gang said in Beijing.

The presidential visit had not been officially announced, but it is widely believed that it was being planned for Sept 15 and 16. An advance security team of the Chinese government visited Islamabad last week to assess the situation.

Mr Aziz said that the security team “witnessed the disturbances and came to obvious conclusions about the unfortunate security situation created by the two parties.”

The adviser on foreign affairs will visit Dushanbe on Sept 11 and 12 to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. He said that he would meet the Chinese foreign minister in Dushanbe and request for rescheduling of the dates for the presidential visit.

“The Chinese authorities have agreed to reschedule the visit... as early as possible so that the momentum generated by unprecedented pace of cooperation between our two countries can be maintained,” he told the committee.

He said that he believed that visit by President Xi would be possible in “coming months” and added that possible dates were being discussed.

Asked by members of the committee to quantify the losses caused by the postponement of the visit, he said that the loss should not be seen in dollars and cents. The visit carried strategic importance and its deferment would affect the “momentum in the relationship”, he said, adding that “timing was very important”.

But, he said, the postponement of the visit would not cause “irreparable loss” and bilateral projects would continue.

Pakistan and China were expected to sign 38 memorandums of understanding and agreements on investment of billions of dollars in Pakistan during President Xi’s visit.

The Chairman of National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan, asked political parties to ensure in future that their protests, irrespective of the nature of dispute, did not affect visits by foreign dignitaries and working of the government institutions.

Published in Dawn, September 6th , 2014