Pakistan is China's only all-weather strategic cooperation partner, and naturally the China-led Belt and Road Initiative has been greeted positively in Pakistan, primarily concerning the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is recognized as the flagship project of the Belt and Road.

The CPEC is a comprehensive package, which contains many concrete infrastructure projects such as the construction of Gwadar Port, China-Pakistan railways and pipelines and energy projects.

The CPEC has won fame as a "friendship corridor" among Pakistani people, said Babar Makhdoom, president and editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail, a Pakistani newspaper, who attended the International Seminar on the Belt and Road Initiative held in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province on Sept. 26-27.

Makhdoom said that the name "friendship corridor" reflected the Pakistani people's support for CPEC. Taking the construction of Gwadar Port as an example, he said that local people, from the governor to a common taxi driver or fisherman, will express positive feelings about China.

"No one is afraid of China and the China-led project. Instead, they love the new working opportunities, and the more advanced fishing technologies, too," said Makhdoom. He added that occasional protests against expanding Chinese presence because of the Belt and Road in Pakistan were all "fake ones for photo shooting," claiming adversarial foreign influence must have been behind the protests.

The CEPC means some US$46 billion of investment from China, but what also matters to Pakistan is the commitment that both countries and nations have been enjoying over the past six decades, he said.

China's good standing relations with Pakistan and increasing presence in the country are making other foreign powers uncomfortable because the China-led Belt and Road are trimming away Western powers' economic and political supremacy in Pakistan and South Asia.

According to the veteran Pakistani journalist, countries that oppose the CPEC may have caused troubles to China in ways such as meddling in the South China Sea issue. He also hopes that through the wisdom of Chinese leadership, more countries in the region, such as India, can become partners rather than adversaries to the CPEC.

"The CPEC is the flagship project of the Belt and Road project. But a member state is opposing the flagship of the grand project. It's absurd," he said.

Makhdoom confirmed that the relationship between Pakistan and China is so close that it overwhelms all other Pakistan's bilateral ties.

"Pakistan has good relations with the United States and Japan, but Pak has extraordinary relations with Beijing. But our good relations with other countries are never a hurdle between our relations with China," said Makhdoom.

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