Pakistani state news agency launches Chinese news service

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif speaks during a ceremony to mark a decade of the signing of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Islamabad, Pakistan, on July 5, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Chao)

The newly launched service would publish international, domestic and China-related news in the Chinese language, editors at the China News Desk said.

ISLAMABAD, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) has launched the South Asian country's first-ever Chinese news service to further promote friendly relations between Pakistan and China.

The newly launched service would publish international, domestic and China-related news in the Chinese language, editors at the China News Desk told Xinhua Thursday.

This photo taken on July 29, 2023 shows the Pakistan Monument with a special illumination to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan.(Str/Xinhua)

Furqan Rao, a senior diplomatic correspondent in charge of the Chinese news service at APP, said his organization has been publishing news in English, Urdu and other local languages of Pakistan.

The basic purpose of the service is to let the Chinese people know about Pakistan, its development, culture and the progress of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Rao told Xinhua, adding that the new service would also act as a platform to counter fake propaganda against CPEC and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Launched in 2013, CPEC, a flagship project of the China-proposed BRI, is a corridor linking the Gwadar port in southwestern Pakistan with Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which highlights energy, transport and industrial cooperation.