China won't abandon Pakistan.

Byline: SHAFQAT ALI

BEIJING -- China will never abandon Pakistan and will remain its iron brother forever, Senior Chinese officials said yesterday.

The top officials said that China will continue to invest money and expertise in Pakistan.

'China will not leave Pakistan even if all oceans dry down,' Sun Degao, Director General of Power China's party affairs as he briefed a group of Pakistani journalists in the Chinese capital regarding China's role in Pakistan's development.

Degao said that China aimed to resolve Pakisran's issues as a friend. 'We will not leave Pakistan, as our President (Xi Jinping) said our friendship is higher than mountains and sweeter than honey.' Vice President Power China Eurasia Li Ming said there were some pending payments amounting to $200 million towards Pakistan regarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor but this issue would be settled bilaterally.

'Pakistan is our friend and we will continue to support it. There is no issue on the CPEC that cannot be resolved,' he said. Shu Xi, commercial manager Power China Eurasia, briefed the Pakistani journalists about China-Pakistan cooperation. She said Power China aimed to lighten up Pakistan and help it resolve the energy crises.

Power China is a wholly state-owned company founded on September 29, 2011 on the basis of 14 provincial, municipal, and district electric power survey and design, engineering, and equipment manufacturing enterprises formerly affiliated to Sinohydro Group Ltd, HydroChina Corporation, State Grid Corporation of China, and China Southern Power Grid Co Ltd.

It is a large comprehensive construction group that offers solutions to the entire chain of the global energy and power, water resource and environment, infrastructure, and real estate industries. Its main businesses cover energy and power, water conservancy, railways and subways, roads, airports, buildings, water environmental governance, city infrastructure, large civic engineering and construction, as well as investment, planning, and design, project contracting, equipment manufacturing, and operation of projects.

Power China now has eight national research and development institutions, 82 provincial R and D institutions, eight academicians' workstations, and six postdoctoral workstations. Eighty-six of its member companies and subsidiaries have been identified as high-tech enterprises. In addition, Power China has won 110 national science and technology awards, 2,293 provincial and...