Azeem Ghumman, who led Pakistan to the under-19 World Cup title, remained unbeaten on 23.
It was China’s second successive defeat in the tournament, having lost to Malaysia by 89 runs, and ended their brief, first flirtation with international cricket.
China never recovered from their precarious position of 11-4 when they started their reply while five of their batsmen were bowled as they failed to cope with Pakistan pace and direction.
Only Li Jian reached double figures, making 14 with three confident fours.
Raza Hassan took 3-10 while Aizaz Cheema finished with figures of 3-15 for Pakistan.
The Pakistan captain got a lucky escape on 27 when Wang Jing dropped a simple chance at long on while Latif also got a reprieve on 89 when Sun Duo could not hold onto a chance at the same position.
“The ball was not coming on to the bat early in the innings and perhaps that was the reason we could not cross the 200-run mark,” Latif said.
Latif completed his century in the last over when he drove to midwicket for two runs. His maiden century in T20 cricket included eight fours and five sixes – one of which landed outside Guanggong Cricket Stadium.
Latif said he hoped success at the Games would help resurrect his international career with the 2011 World Cup starting in South Asia in February.
“I wasn’t expecting this. I played well in domestic matches and now here with the national team,” said the skipper, who has played in five one-day and five Twenty20 matches.
“I did well because the Chinese bowling was not good. I definitely hope that my performance here will help me get back into the national team.”
China captain Wang Lei described Pakistan as a “champion” team.
“Pakistan is a champion team and we got a chance to learn how to bowl, bat and field from them.”
“We did our best, but we really need time. That will enable us to get better in cricket. Hopefully, we will have more opportunities to play against top teams,” said Wang.
Pakistan will likely to be joined in the semi-finals by Bangladesh and Afghanistan with Malaysia, Hong Kong, Maldives and Nepal all hoping to grab the final last-four place.
Cricket – which made its debut at the Guangzhou games – is one of the rare sports in which China could not win a medal in Guangzhou.
Last week, Pakistan’s women’s team won the first ever cricket gold medal awarded in the Asian Games, defeating Bangladesh in the final. Japan took bronze with a win over China.
