In his latest interview in China:
Uyghur issue
Asked about the allegations hurled by the United States and European countries of the genocide of Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province, Imran said that the reports received from Pakistan’s envoy to China after his visit to the province were “completely different”.
“Ambassador Moinul Haq was especially asked to go and have a look to find out what was actually going on in Xinjiang,” he said. “The report he [envoy] gave to us was completely different that is coming out [about Uyghurs] on the Western media,” the prime minister added.
“According to him [Ambassador Haq], the emphasis on development in Xinjiang is ‘unprecedented’,” he said, adding that the envoy, however, did mention a certain security issue because of the terror attacks by ETIM [East Turkestan Islamic Movement].”
On the bilateral relationship with China, the prime minister said that the all-weather friendship between the two countries had withstood the test of time. For 70 years, he said, the relations with China had been consistent regardless of the government in power.
Responding to another question on balancing ties between the US and China, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that Pakistan would like to replicate the role it had played in bringing the two rival blocs closer in the 1970s.
DAWN