Chinese aviation giant rolls out red carpet for President Zardari
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ISLAMABAD: Praising the J-10 and JF-17 aircraft for strengthening Pakistan’s aerial defence capabilities, President Asif Ali Zardari reaffirmed on Sunday that Pakistan and China would continue to expand their collaboration in the field of defence production and aviation.
The president expressed this resolve during a visit to top Chinese aerospace and defence conglomerate, the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), which manufactures the J-10C aircraft.
According to the President’s Secretariat, he is the first foreign head of state to visit the facility. He was accompanied by his children, PPP Chairman Bilawal and MNA Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari.
During the visit, President Zardari met with the company’s engineers and scientists and praised the Chinese-made aircraft’s capabilities, which he said were amply demonstrated during the recent Maarka-i-Haq and Operation Bunyanum Marsoos against India.
Head of state gets a peek at stealth fighter production; praises J-10C, JF-17 for strengthening aerial defences
The president lauded AVIC as a “symbol of China’s technological advancement and of the enduring strategic partnership between Pakistan and China”.
He was briefed on AVIC’s capabilities, including the J-10, the co-production of the JF-17 Thunder with Pakistan, the J-20 stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles.
Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Khalil Hashmi and China’s Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong also accompanied the president.
High-speed train
President Zardari also travelled from Chengdu to Mianyang via high-speed train.
During the half-hour journey, he praised China’s achievements in developing sustainable transport, calling its pollution-free electric propulsion and earthquake early warning technologies “a marvel of railway engineering”.
He noted that such innovations offered “valuable lessons for other countries including Pakistan”. Officials highlighted that China operates the world’s largest high-speed rail network of over 45,000 kilometres, carrying more than 2 billion passengers annually on trains that run up to 350km per hour.
With trains running at up to 350km/h, the network links almost all major Chinese cities. China has built a standardised, dedicated passenger system that became a model of modern connectivity, they said.
Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2025
