China on Saturday strongly condemned a suicide attack targeting a convoy of Chinese nationals at the Gwadar Eastbay Expressway Project in Balochistan, Pakistan on Friday.
In its statement on Saturday, the Chinese Embassy demanded that Pakistan treat the injured people and “conduct a thorough investigation on the attack, and severely punish the perpetrators”.
"The Chinese embassy in Pakistan strongly condemns this act of terrorism, extends its sincere sympathies to the injured of both countries, and expresses its deep condolences to the innocent victims in Pakistan."
“At the same time, relevant departments at all levels in Pakistan must take practical and effective measures to accelerate to implement strengthened whole-process security measures and upgraded security cooperation mechanism to ensure that similar incidents will not happen again,” the embassy added.
The embassy also stated that the security measures of Pakistan are not sufficient and there have been several terrorist attacks that have led to the death of Chinese nationals. According to a report by Dawn, the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) Majeed Brigade had claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Chinese Embassy also asked its citizens residing in Pakistan to be “vigilant, strengthen safety precautions, reduce unnecessary outings, and take effective security protections”.
The suicide attack led to the death of two Pakistani children, while a Chinese national was injured. This is the second such attack in over a month in Balochistan province. In July, a suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying workers to a dam construction site, killing 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals.
China is involved in several projects aimed at the development of the Gwadar port in the Arabian Sea, which is a part of the Belt and Road initiative. Beijing is investing over $65 billion in infrastructure projects in Pakistan as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, under its wider Belt and Road initiative.