China tells Pakistan: If you can't hunt down terrorists, Chinese missiles can

In a major embarrassment for Pakistan, its best friend China is not amused by Islamabad's response to the terrorist attack that killed nine Chinese workers in the northwestern part of the country.

Vipin Vijayan

Beijing, First Published Jul 16, 2021, 6:45 PM IST | Last Updated Jul 16, 2021, 6:45 PM IST

In a major embarrassment for Pakistan, its best friend China is not amused by Islamabad's response to the terrorist attack that killed nine Chinese workers in the northwestern part of the country.

Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of Beijing's official mouthpiece Global Times, lashed out at the Imran Khan government.

He went to the extent to say that if Islamabad could not eliminate those responsible for the attack, Chinese missiles and forces could be put into action to get the task done.

China has claimed that nine of its citizens were among the 13 people killed in the July 14 bomb attack on a bus carrying around 40 Chinese engineers, surveyors and mechanical staff.

The bus was heading to Dasu hydroelectric project construction site in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The dam is part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a $65 billion investment plan which aimed to connect western China to the southern Pakistani port of Gwadar. The construction of this dam is crucial to China's mega Belt and Road Initiative.

Islamabad, however, claimed that the explosion was the result of a gas leak.

Pakistan's foreign ministry claimed that the bus toppled into a ravine after suffering a mechanical failure, resulting in gas leakage that triggered a blast.

China, meanwhile, has demanded Pakistan to ramp up security measures for China-Pakistan cooperation projects to ensure their safe and smooth operation.

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