Beijing: Senior Chinese Diplomat Wang Yi urged Pakistan to investigate the explosion on the bus that killed 13 people, including nine Chinese workers, but stopped calling it an attack, according to a post on Thursday on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.
A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Wednesday blew up a bomb attack later that day but Pakistan said mechanical failure caused a gas leak that led to the explosion.
The explosion sent a bus crashed into a cliff in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan where Chinese engineers had worked on hydroelectric projects as part of Beijing belts and road initiatives.
China is a close ally and large investors in Pakistan and various militants fighting Pakistani countries in the past attack Chinese projects.
Wang told Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi that if indeed “terrorist attacks”, Pakistan must immediately arrest the culprit and punish them severely, according to the summary of the Chinese Ministry of the meeting they have in Dushanbe.
Wang, a member of the State Council and Chinese Foreign Minister said, “the lesson must be learned” and both parties must further strengthen security measures for China-Pakistani cooperation projects to ensure safe and smooth operation.
Both speak in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, on the sidelines of the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.