Claim: A video shows former prime minister and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif receiving a grand welcome on his recent “unofficial” visit to China.
Fact: Although Sharif went on a trip to China in April, the video is from his trip to Beijing in July 2013, when he held the premier’s office.
Fact or Fiction?
On 24 April 2024, X (formerly Twitter) user Talal Butt (@tsunny68) posted (archived) a video claiming that it shows Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif receiving a grand welcome during his recent visit to China.
His tweet reads,
“ریڈ کارپٹ ، گارڈ آف آنر ، فل پروٹوکول
کسی عہدے کے بغیر۔ قومی لیڈر ایسے ھوتے ھیں جس پر دنیا اعتماد کرتی ھے
[Red carpet, guard of honor, full protocol.
Without any rank. National leaders are those whom the world trusts]”
The video, posted two days after he embarked on a “private visit” to China, shows Sharif greeting Chinese officials and dignitaries with a red carpet laid out for his welcome, in the presence of Chinese military soldiers.
Soch Fact Check found the claim to be misleading. While multiple media outlets reported that Sharif embarked on a visit to China on 22 April 2024, none of them included details of the leader receiving a red-carpet welcome by Chinese officials.
Geo News reported that Sharif undertook a five-day personal visit to China, primarily for a medical check-up and to meet with Chinese company owners. This marks his first foreign trip since returning to Pakistan in 2023 after a four-year self-imposed exile in London, according to the article.
An article by Dawn published on 23 April stated that Sharif departed for China on a “low-profile” five-day visit, with the party keeping details about the trip undisclosed.
PML-N representatives neither confirmed nor denied his visit, while a PML-N minister acknowledged it as a “private visit”, according to the Dawn report.
Citing “media reports”, the article further said that the trip is of a “personal nature”, involving a medical check-up and meetings with Chinese companies for development projects in Punjab, where his daughter Maryam Nawaz holds the position of the chief minister.
However, we found through a reverse image search on Google that the same video as the viral one was posted on YouTube on 5 July 2013 by Agence France-Presse (AFP). It was recorded in 2013 when Sharif visited China from 4 July to 8 July as the prime minister of Pakistan at the time..
Hence, Soch Fact Check concludes that while Sharif recently embarked on a five-day visit to China, the viral video is unrelated to it. In fact it’s from 2013 when Sharif visited Beijing as Pakistan’s prime minister.
Virality:
The claim can be found here, here, here and here on X.
The video posted by @tsunny68 on X gained significant traction with 96,900 views, 1,661 likes and 611 reposts.
It was also shared here, here, here and here on Facebook.
Conclusion: A video showing Nawaz Sharif’s recent unofficial visit to China actually dates back to July 2013, when Sharif was the Prime Minister of Pakistan and visited Beijing in an official capacity.
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com