News Desk |
Lijan Zhao, the acting ambassador of China to Pakistan came in defence of Asad Umar, the former finance minister of Pakistan at a time when a negative social media campaign maligning him started on the social media soon after his resignation.
Lijan Zhao shared a small interview clip of the then finance minister Asad Umar to an international news channel, in which he was seen counter questioning the sudden interest of Western countries in China’s financial assistance to Pakistan.
A man of integrity. A man who dares to speak truth. @Asad_Umar #AsadUmar pic.twitter.com/wdM3oVSAbz
— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) April 21, 2019
Lijan Zhao, sharing the video clip appreciated Asad Umar and captioned the video, “A man of integrity. A man who dares to speak the truth.”
Lijan Zhao’s tweet came at a time when social media activist Farhan Virk, who at one point in time was a staunch supporter of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) launched a campaign against Asad Umar.
Asad Umar’s Twitter Response
Asad Umar in a humble response thanked Zhao for his appreciation in a tweet and hailed Pakistan-China friendship.
Very kind of you. About time we all stood up for the truth instead of letting the colonial mindset lecture to us. For years we have heard them say that the chinese model was wrong and bound to fail. We are proud that china has proven them wrong #PakChinaFriendshipZindabad https://t.co/XdjtdQJkIL
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) April 21, 2019
He said, “Very kind of you. About time we all stood up for the truth instead of letting the colonial mindset lecture us. For years we have heard them say that the Chinese model was wrong and bound to fail. We are proud that China has proven them wrong.” #PakChinaFriendshipZindabad
The Widely-Appreciated Interview
https://www.facebook.com/PTIOfficial/videos/1845236258935731/
Asad Umar blasting at the Western world had said, “We had 12 IMF programs. Why has it never been asked about which country has lent how much to Pakistan? Why it is suddenly, all this much interest and how much has come from China? Why was the same question not asked when lenders were Western banks?” Asad Umar had remarked in his interview.
Read more: ‘Imran please take a U-turn’: Twitter erupts in support of Asad…
“USA is the largest debtor in the world to China, 1.3 trillion dollars they owe. What Pakistan owes to China? Less than 10 percent of Pakistan’s foreign debt is owned by China right now, 90 percent is non-Chinese,” said Asad Umar.
“We are just being consistent, in the bilateral relationship with China which remained the same, regardless of who was in power. We will worry about our China debt problem. Mr Pompeo should worry about his China debt problem,” said Asad Umar.
PTI Leaders Stand by Asad Umar
Lijan Zhao’s tweet came at a time when social media activist Farhan Virk, who at one point in time was a staunch supporter of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) launched a campaign against Asad Umar. He in his video has vehemently criticized Asad Umar for his poor performance.
Read more: Asad Umar urges followers to support PM Imran Khan
Several PTI leaders including Jehangir Tareen came in defense of Asad Umar as soon as the message spread across social media.