China's rise has presented significant economic opportunities for Pakistan and the wider region, marking a new chapter in the "ironclad" Pakistan-China partnership, according to former Pakistani Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar.
In an interview with the China Media Group (CMG) during a recent visit to China, Kakar hailed the strength and resilience of the bilateral relationship, which has often dubbed as an "ironclad" friendship between the two neighboring nations.
"When it comes to the 'ironclad' phrase, actually it means our relation with resilience, with time testing challenges which has happened in the history of both nations and countries. And both have fulfilled one another's expectations, while at times even beyond expectations," he said.
Kakar also highlighted the positive spillover effect that China's peaceful rise has brought to Pakistan and the broader world, noting that Pakistan is committed to strengthening ties with China to maximize these benefits.
"So this relationship is just not in terms of a strategic arena, but also in an economic arena. Pakistan feels that the rise of China has never been a threatening China. It is a China which is self-confident, which offers economic opportunities not just for its domestic population, but for its [wider] neighborhood, for its region, for the entire globe. We should not forget that the Chinese production capacity, post-1979 particularly, is primarily responsible for keeping inflation in check at a global level. It was the cheap production cost of Chinese goods to different consumers across the globe," said Kakar.
The two countries agreed to commence the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) back in 2013, which has served as the cornerstone of the two countries' all-weather strategic cooperative partnership and led to developments such as the Gwadar Port.
Kakar said this is an example of the fruits and economic benefits afforded by the strong ties between the two sides.
"The economic opportunity which China is offering to Pakistan is translating another chapter to that ironclad long journey and relationship, and we hope that we will benefit from the economic front as much as we benefited on the strategic front with the Chinese friendship," he said.
Economic opportunities open new chapter in China-Pakistan ironclad relationship: former PM
While floodwaters began to recede across parts of Bangkok on Wednesday, thousands of residents in the capital's low-lying suburbs remained marooned, grappling with severe disruptions to electricity, clean water, and essential services in neighborhoods accessible only by boat.
A severe nationwide flooding swept through 42 Thai provinces between Sept 16 and 28, impacting 1.8 million people and leaving at least 8 people dead, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.
Officials reported that 28 provinces, primarily across Thailand's central, northern, eastern, and northeastern regions, remain affected by the disaster.
In the Lat Krabang district on Bangkok's eastern edge, just kilometers from the Suvarnabhumi Airport, streets remain submerged deep enough to swallow cars.
For the tens of thousands of people living there, the danger is not the rising water, but the grueling daily struggle to survive.
"It's devastating. Nobody can make a living. I have no money right now; all I have left is myself," said Mu Boonpitaksorn, a local resident.
With roads submerged and utility lines cut, small boats have become the communities' only connection to the outside world, delivering food, drinking water and medicine while serving as a crucial lifeline for evacuations.
"They are losing hope. That's what I think. This is one of the largest disaster area for the moment. People with disability, elderly people, family with younger children, it's much difficult for them to stay on into the community as they used to," said Weerasak Kowsurat, secretary general of the Friends in Need (of "PA") Volunteers Foundation.
Although temporary shelters have been established across the capital to offer safety, food, and dry ground to the displaced, evacuees face the reality of walking away from everything they could not carry.
"It's all gone. I have nothing left. Absolutely nothing. Fridge, washing machine, fan, air conditioner… nothing left at all. Inside my home is all mud. It's too much, it's beyond despair," said Sumontha Huanarvorn, an evacuee.
Even as Bangkok gradually dries out, the floodwaters continue to separate families from their homes, belongings, and routines, leaving residents waiting desperately for roads to reappear, and hoping they will eventually lead back to the life they knew before the deluge.
Bangkok suburbs endure daily struggle as floodwaters linger
