The China-Pakistan Information Corridor (CPIC) was launched in Islamabad on Tuesday, giving the two countries a formal platform to share verified news, counter misleading narratives and expand cooperation among media organisations, businesses, think tanks and tourism bodies. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the initiative would also promote cultural exchange between Pakistan and China, adding a communications layer to a partnership long defined by infrastructure and investment.
A Ceremony Attended by Senior Chinese Officials
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning and Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong attended the launch ceremony. Addressing the gathering, Tarar spoke of his long-standing wish to collaborate with China on media, information sharing and digital platforms. He recalled that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) had turned decades of goodwill into steel, concrete and current, lighting homes, laying motorways across the provinces and giving Pakistan a gateway to the world at Gwadar.
The minister said that while the first phase of CPEC connected lands, the next phase would connect minds. In his formulation, CPEC is the body of the shared future and CPIC will be its voice, one that helps people in each country understand the other as it truly is rather than through outdated caricatures.
How the China-Pakistan Information Corridor Is Structured
Tarar said collaboration under the China-Pakistan Information Corridor will rest on four pillars. The first covers media. A news exchange working group of 18 Pakistani and Chinese media organisations is already operating, bringing together state broadcasters and private channels with Chinese outlets including Xinhua, China Media Group and People’s Daily, which now share verified news on bilateral cooperation. The pillar also includes a dedicated fact-check mechanism intended to track misleading claims and answer them with concrete facts.
The second pillar concerns business and enterprise and draws on leading commercial groups from both countries. Tarar said it has opened its first regional office in Karachi, and that a trade portal to track trade, investment and foreign direct investment is being built. A podcast series on the stories of Chinese entrepreneurs in Pakistan, and of Pakistani entrepreneurs in China, is also planned.
The third pillar involves think tanks. Led by the Pakistan-China Institute and joined by other research institutions, it will pursue joint dialogue, research and publications with Chinese counterparts. The fourth pillar, which Tarar called the heart of the corridor, focuses on culture and tourism. Work is already under way on a Xinjiang-Gilgit-Baltistan tourism corridor, which is meant to extend the journeys of Chinese travellers into Pakistan’s northern valleys. Tarar also announced that the first cohort of CPEC Youth Ambassadors has been nominated from 13 universities across the country.
Efforts to Counter Misleading Narratives
A central stated purpose of the initiative is to counter misleading narratives about the relationship. Tarar said the corridor would answer falsehoods with fact, isolation with exchange and suspicion with trust. Mao Ning told the ceremony that both countries continue to face misinformation and fake news, which, according to state broadcaster Pakistan Television, was why she considered the launch necessary and timely. Arab News reported that the corridor is intended to complement CPEC by strengthening communication and public understanding of bilateral cooperation.
The announcement follows earlier preparatory work. In March, Pakistani officials from the information, foreign affairs and CPEC bodies met with representatives of the Chinese embassy to advance plans to institutionalise the corridor, with the aim of communicating the story of bilateral cooperation with clarity and coherence.
A Digital Focus Aimed at Young People
Tarar described CPIC as a digital corridor at its core, built from news exchanges, fact-check mechanisms, trade portals, podcasts, social media channels and youth ambassadors. He linked this to Pakistan’s demographics, noting that more than 68 per cent of the population is under 30 and that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif views the digital revolution as being about young people. He invited Chinese media houses, think tanks, universities, enterprises and youth ambassadors to join each pillar of the corridor.
Concluding his remarks, Tarar said that where the Karakoram Highway was carved through mountains, the two countries are now building a different highway made of truth and carried on voices.
Context of a Longstanding Partnership
The launch comes in a year marking 75 years since Pakistan and China established diplomatic relations, and a day after Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met Ambassador Zaidong in Islamabad to review progress on CPEC. Their discussions covered trade, investment, regional connectivity, agricultural modernisation and people-to-people exchanges.
Ties between the two countries have expanded over decades across trade, energy, defence and infrastructure, with CPEC as the most visible symbol of shared development goals. Whether the China-Pakistan Information Corridor can give that partnership a comparably durable public dimension will depend on how effectively its working groups, portals and exchanges translate official goodwill into sustained engagement between ordinary citizens.
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