In a rare snub to all-weather ally Pakistan, Chinese President Xi Jinping skipped a customary meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the SCO summit in Astana after the murder of two Chinese teachers in Balochistan.
Sharif returned from Astana after attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on the sidelines of which he met Presidents of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Russia.
Chinese state-run media highlighted Xi’s meetings with Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Xi’s unprecedented snub followed deep disappointment and grief among Chinese public over the slaying of the two Chinese citizens who were kidnapped last month from Quetta in Balochistan.
The two were brutally murdered reportedly by Islamic State militants. The news of their murders was made public ahead of the SCO summit held on June 8-9 in which India and Pakistan were admitted as members.
On Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying explained that the murders were no way connected to the $50bin China Pakistan Economic Corridor which was opposed by the Baloch nationalists.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
