Asim Munir to join Shehbaz in Beijing

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif began an official visit to China on May 23, with Pakistan’s Foreign Office saying the trip runs through May 26 and includes meetings with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. Pakistan’s government said the visit is tied to the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations and will cover political, economic and strategic cooperation. A social media post circulated on May 23 added a separate claim: that army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir would also join Sharif in Beijing for talks linked to U.S.-Iran contacts. Pakistan’s official statements reviewed on Sunday confirmed Sharif’s trip, but did not publicly confirm Munir’s presence in Beijing. ### What is officially confirmed about Sharif’s China trip? Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on May 22 that Sharif would visit China from May 23 to May 26 at Beijing’s invitation. The ministry said he would meet Xi and Li, begin the trip in Hangzhou, and attend a reception in Beijing marking 75 years of Pakistan-China diplomatic ties. (mofa.gov.pk) Hangzhou was the first public stop. Pakistan’s Press Information Department said on May 23 that Sharif met Wang Hao, the Communist Party secretary of Zhejiang province, and witnessed the signing of two cooperation documents, including a sister-province arrangement between Zhejiang and Punjab. ### Where does Asim Munir enter the story? An X post cited in the social briefing said Munir was set to join Sharif in Beijing for talks on U.S.-Iran backchannels. (mofa.gov.pk) That claim aligns with broader reporting that Pakistan has been active in diplomacy around U.S.-Iran tensions, but the post itself remains the basis for the Beijing-specific assertion in the material reviewed here. (pid.gov.pk) Official Pakistani announcements available on Sunday did not list Munir as part of Sharif’s China delegation. The Foreign Office curtain-raiser and the government’s Hangzhou readout referred only to the prime minister’s meetings and economic agenda. ### Was Munir somewhere else at the same time? Pakistan Today reported on May 23 that Munir had arrived in Tehran for talks on U.S.-Iran tensions and regional peace, citing ISPR and other sources. (rferl.org) The report said Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni received him on arrival and that Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi was also present. (mofa.gov.pk) That timeline matters because it places Munir in Iran on Friday, the same day Sharif’s China trip got underway. On the material publicly available so far, it is possible to say Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership were both engaged in diplomacy tied to regional tensions, but not to say from official records that Munir had already joined Sharif in Beijing. That is an inference from the sequence of reports, not an official Pakistani statement. (pakistantoday.com.pk) ### Why is Beijing part of the discussion at all? China’s role is explicit in Pakistan’s official framing of Sharif’s trip. The Foreign Office said the two sides would review cooperation in political, economic and strategic domains, while other reporting said regional tensions, including the U.S.-Iran file, were expected to figure in discussions. (mofa.gov.pk) Reuters reported on May 21 that Sharif would visit China from May 23 to 26, after Pakistan’s foreign minister had traveled to Beijing in late March amid intensified efforts to ease tensions in the Middle East. That places the current visit in an existing diplomatic track rather than as a one-off event. ### What should readers watch next? May 26 is the scheduled end of Sharif’s China trip, according to Pakistan’s Foreign Office. (mofa.gov.pk) The most direct confirmation of any Beijing role for Munir would be a statement from ISPR, Pakistan’s Foreign Office, or the prime minister’s office, or a Chinese readout naming the participants in meetings with Xi or Li. (msn.com)