KARACHI: Amidst widely circulating complaints from the business community that the government of China has been tightening visa rules for Pakistanis, the embassy has emphasised that it views growing people-to-people contact as central to the growing relationship between both countries.

“As the ancient Chinese saying goes, “amity between the people holds key to sound relationship between states,” the embassy told Dawn. “Promoting mutual understanding, exchanges and cooperation between the two peoples is the key point for developing the all-weather strategic partnership of cooperation between China and Pakistan.”

The spokesman of the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, when asked about the visa complaints, said from the Chinese side they attach great importance to the exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in the fields of trade, culture, education, science and technology, amidst much else, and have been committed to creating conditions for facilitating personnel exchanges.

According to statistics shared with Dawn by the embassy, the visa issuance volume in 2016 rose 19.6 per cent over the previous year, and has a 7.8pc growth in the first eight months of 2017 over the same period of last year, “which shows that with the promotion of China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) construction, more and more Pakistanis have been to China for trade negotiation and cultural exchanges.”

The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan says it has been processing visas for Pakistanis on the basis of international conventions and “the principal of reciprocity.” In recent years, the spokesman added, the Chinese side has implemented a series of measures for facilitating visa applications, which he claimed have “gained good effect.”

The requirement to have an invitation from a Chinese partner does not apply to Pakistanis carrying out CPEC projects, he added. Such travelers can apply for visas without an invitation letter from a duly authorised entity. When members from Pakistan’s chambers of commerce visit China for the Canton Fair, they can apply for visas with invitation letters of Economic and Commercial Counselor’s Office of Chinese Embassy and letters of guarantee of their own chambers of commerce. “We also extended our opening hours and sometimes work in holidays to ensure applicants, especially Pakistani students (approximately 22,000 students are in China now), to get visas timely,” he said.

According to bilateral arrangement, visa application is totally free for all Pakistanis, who are also welcome to the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad and Consulate General in Karachi to apply for visas by themselves with complete materials.

“Pakistani friends are warmly welcome to express their difficulties and questions during the visa application process to Chinese Embassy and Consulate General in Karachi,” the spokesman added. “We promise that we will further improve our visa facilitating measures and offer service of good quality and high efficiency to promote the exchanges and cooperation in various fields between China and Pakistan.”

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2017