Frankly speaking I didn’t have any idea of what heights China had reached, conquered and crossed in its upward journey of monumental progress in the areas of Economy, Technology and Innovation.
I have been to UK thrice—-once in 1985-86 and twice in 2008. I have been to the US once—in1986. I have been to Japan in 1985. I have been to South Korea in 1985. Though great deal has occurred since my visits to these highly developed countries but America and UK both have reportedly shown a marked tendency to rejoice in their reputation rather than to add momentum to the progress they had made in the past.
I had been amazed at Japan’s giant strides in commerce. Also at South Korea’s ferocious resolve to compete the market leaders. I remember having visited the head office of Samsung in the company of my South Korean host Kim. And I have vivid memories of a key executive of Samsung telling me: WE HAVE PLANS TO SAMSUNGISE THE WORLD.
About China I had a different image. A vast sea of mankind that had regimented itself into a world power. I had remembrance of a statement that one of the Chinese envoys to Pakistan had made to me during a discussion in early days of this century. “WE ARE NOT A SUPER POWER MR AKBAR. WE HAVE MANY CHALLENGES TO MEET. AND WE HAVE MANY MOUNTAINS TO CONQUER AND MANY RIVERS TO CROSS.”
On the sixteenth of this month, as I, in company of our Chinese hosts as well as my colleagues in the CGSS-APNS delegation, drove through Beijing—the glorious openness, flanked by uniformly structured vertical buildings, was telling me that I was watching nothing but a living testimony to the RESURECTION OF A NATION FROM RAGS TO RICHES.
At the airport I had met a walking, talking, sprinting dynamo in human form—by the name of Jack Chu.
“If I am not mistaken you can’t but be Inam Akbar’s father,” he had said: “Don’t get startled. I am no magician. He is my partner in communication business in Pakistan.”
I had known instantly that Jack Chu was a sort of man whose magnetism could move mountains.
And I was quick to conclude that this Hong Kong-based entrepreneur had a lead role in our visit.
We visited several Chinese companies—DJ.com and China Telecom being the most outstanding among them. We witnessed miracles happening there. We witnessed some miracles in Shanghai’s Display Centre too. We were all stunned by the pace and the magnitude of China’s progress in its upward journey in technology-based commerce.
The embrace with which I and Jack Chu parted at the Shanghai airport was an expression of the joy of deep understanding and friendliness.
“Be prepared to receive Chairman Chu at Lahore Airport any moment, any day, any week any month or any year. But I hope not beyond 2019, “said Jack Chu with his ever-ready-to-appear simile.
“It will be a Joy Jack, to have you among us”, I replied.
“Tell your wife she has an elder son to Inam— who heads one of the most successful Communications-cum-Security companies in China—-” he said.
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