THREE points — energy, Afghanistan and counter-terrorism — stand out among the number of issues on which Pakistan and China reached understanding during Prime Minister Li Keqiang’s two-day visit. Quite understandably, the incoming prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, laid stress on seeking Chinese help in resolving Pakistan’s serious energy crisis when he met Mr Li on Thursday. With parts of the country denied power for as long as 19 hours, Pakistan’s energy crisis needs to be tackled on an emergency basis.Mr Li, of course, promised help in conventional, renewable and civilian nuclear power technology. But basically it is Pakistan’s problem. While we cannot review the entire gamut of Pakistan’s energy problem here, it goes without saying that we have thoroughly bungled the energy sector and are paying the price for it. The PML-N government, thus, has to draw up a comprehensive programme for self-sufficiency in energy, because China can help only up to a point.

In Mr Li’s visit to South Asia — his first tour abroad since the transfer of power in Beijing — China observers can detect many messages. With its economic boom and rising political clout, China has pursued towards South Asia a policy which blends economic considerations with restraint in dealing with its main Asian rival, India. The circumspection shown by China during the recent stand-off in the Ladakh region underlines Beijing’s resolve to not up the ante in a region that is already tense. At the same time, while going for increased trade relations with India, successive Chinese governments have taken pains to emphasise that Beijing’s relations with New Delhi are not at Islamabad’s expense. In fact, as the joint statement averred, strengthening the “strategic partnership” was the two countries’ “shared objective”. The joint statement and Mr Li’s address to the Senate testify to the two countries’ commonality of views on a number of key problems, including security, Afghanistan and what the joint statement called “three evil forces” — terrorism, separatism and extremism.

China is rightly concerned over acts of terrorism by separatist elements in its Xinjiang province bordering Pakistan. Saddled with its own twin problems of terrorism and insurgency, Islamabad has cooperated with Beijing in earnest and denied the use of its soil for terrorism. China appreciates this, and — as the joint statement points out — Beijing “respects” Islamabad’s counter-terrorism strategy: something that Islamabad should welcome, given the criticism of its counter-terrorism policy by some quarters. There is no doubt that strategic ties and friendship between Pakistan and China are in the two countries’ mutual interest.