Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for deeper cooperation with China on disaster management, highlighting Pakistan’s need to adopt more modern strategies to tackle natural calamities.
During a visit to Tianjin University’s National Earthquake Simulation Center on Sunday, Sharif praised China’s progress in disaster prevention technologies and said that adopting similar systems could significantly improve Pakistan’s emergency response capacity.
He emphasized strengthening joint initiatives already underway — such as the China-Pakistan Joint Lab for Disaster and Emergency Medicine and the International Medical Cooperation Center — and urged both countries to scale up collaboration under the Belt and Road Initiative.
The prime minister also spoke about the ongoing floods across Pakistan, assuring citizens that nationwide relief operations would not stop until all affected families receive assistance. Additional convoys carrying supplies have been dispatched to Narowal, Sialkot, Wazirabad, Hafizabad, Chiniot and Jhang, with distribution coordinated through the Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority. Sharif directed the National Disaster Management Authority to stay closely aligned with provincial efforts to ensure timely relief.
During the visit, Sharif was shown new disaster-response technologies, including specialized medical rescue vehicles.
This trip marks Sharif’s first visit to China since the brief but intense aerial conflict with India in May, triggered by the Pahalgam attack. Pakistan’s air force claimed it downed several Indian fighter jets, including Rafales, in what analysts described as the first real-world test of Chinese-supplied weaponry against Western platforms. Independent verification has confirmed at least some of those shootdowns, drawing global attention to China’s expanding role in modern warfare technology.
