Pakistan Investigates Whether Attack Targeted China’s Ambassador

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Authorities are investigating whether the Chinese ambassador was the target of a suicide bombing in a restive Western province, Pakistani officials said, in what could be the latest attack in the country directed at a Chinese target.

Pakistan is a close ally of China and has been one of the main recipients of money through Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, but recent attacks have illustrated the security threat posed by China’s presence in the country.

The bomb ripped through the parking lot of a hotel in the western city of Quetta on Wednesday night, killing at least five people and wounding around a dozen more, Pakistani officials said.

The Chinese ambassador, Nong Rong, was staying at the hotel, which is in a heavily guarded part of the city. He was due to return there from a dinner meeting outside the hotel when the blast occurred, Pakistani officials said.

It wasn’t clear who was behind the attack. Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed pointed the finger at unnamed foreign powers that he said were attempting to destabilize the country, a likely reference to India. Islamabad frequently accuses India of being behind attacks in Pakistan, an allegation New Delhi denies.

The Pakistani Taliban, a jihadist group known more for attacking the government and security forces, claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack.

In the past, separatist insurgents in the western province of Balochistan, where Quetta is the regional capital, have claimed responsibility for attacks on Chinese targets. The separatist movement is secular and accuses Pakistan and China of exploiting local natural resources.

In recent years, targets of Baloch separatist attacks have included a hotel in the Chinese-built port of Gwadar, the Chinese consulate in the southern city of Karachi, and the partly Chinese-owned stock exchange in Karachi.

A spokesman for one insurgent group, the Baloch Liberation Army, said in an interview that it wasn’t involved in the attack. “However, our organization will continue its military and political activities against China and Pakistan until their full withdrawal from Balochistan,” said the spokesman, Jeeyand Baloch.

China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that its ambassador was staying at the hotel, and said he was outside of the hotel at the time of the bombing. The ministry said it wasn’t aware of any Chinese citizens being injured in the blast.

“We trust that Pakistan will ascertain the truth, bring the perpetrators to justice and guarantee the safety of Chinese individuals and organizations in Pakistan,” ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Thursday.

Islamabad is seeking to attract Chinese private companies to set up factories in the country, and has also urged businesses from elsewhere to come to Pakistan, where terrorist attacks are down in recent years. Pakistan’s economy was struggling even before the Covid-19 pandemic. The country was forced to turn to the International Monetary Fund for help.

“There is a big issue of security, but the foundation of this relationship is strong and China has taken a position that it will not retreat despite these obstacles,” said Mustafa Hyder Sayed, executive director of the Pakistan-China Institute, a think tank in Islamabad.

The development of industrial parks with China is central to the second phase of Beijing’s economic corridor with Pakistan, with the first phase putting in some $20 billion of power plants and roads by Chinese state-owned businesses. So far, however, there is little sign of a large influx of Chinese private-sector businesses.

Andrew Small, author of a book on the China-Pakistan relationship, said that the Chinese always expected security risks, but if it turns out that jihadists are targeting them too, it would lead them to reassess the threat. “The Chinese private sector was already nervous about Pakistan and has always wanted to operate under elaborate protective conditions,” he said.

—Josh Chin in Taipei and Waqar Gillani in Islamabad contributed to this article.

Write to Saeed Shah at saeed.shah@wsj.com

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