Chinese Premier Li could inaugurate Beijing-funded airport in Pakistan during visit

Chinese premier Li Qiang to inaugurate Chinese-funded airport in Pakistan amid security concerns and separatist attacks.

“Chinese premier Li Qiang could inaugurate operations at a Chinese-funded airport in Pakistan’s Balochistan province during his visit to the country in the coming week,” Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told reporters on Sunday (October 13, 2024).

“The start of operations at the $200 million Gwadar International Airport has been pushed back for a security review after deadly attacks by separatist militants in August in the area,” Government and Aviation sources said.

“Li, along with Ministers and Government officials, will visit Pakistan from October 14 to October 17,” Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Sunday (October 13, 2024).

Pakistan is hosting the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which comprises nine full members, including China, India, Iran and Russia, and is scheduled for October 15 and October 16 in Islamabad.

“The new airport will handle domestic and international flights,” according to Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority, and will be one of the country’s biggest airports.

“The initial plan was for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to inaugurate the airport on August 14 alongside Chinese officials, but that was called off after an ethnic Baloch rights group started a sit-in protest,” the officials said.

A decades-long insurgency in Balochistan by separatist militant groups has led to frequent attacks against the Government, army and Chinese interests in the region to press demands for a share in mineral-rich regional resources.