PTV makes 'begging' faux pas during Imran Khan's address in Beijing as Pakistan seeks Chinese aid

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It was an embarrassing situation for Pakistan’s state-run PTV on Monday as the spelling of Beijing was wrongly written as “Begging” when country’s Prime Minister Imran Khan was addressing a gathering in China.

The Pakistani Prime Minister was speaking at an event at the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China in Beijing and the event was being broadcast live by the Pakistan Television Corporation when the faux pas occurred.

Notably, Imran Khan’s maiden official visit to China as the Prime Minister of Pakistan is aimed at getting additional aid for the cash-strapped nation, which has also approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout.

Reacting to the goof-up, the PTV issued an apology with a statement on microblogging site Twitter. The statement on the official Twitter handle of PTV News read, “Today, during a live address of the Prime Minister during his ongoing visit to China, a typographical error took place, which remained on screen for 20 seconds & later removed. This incident is regrettable. Strict action has been initiated under rules against concerned officials.”

According to Pakistani media reports, country’s Information and Broadcasting minister Fawad Chaudhry has ordered an inquiry into the “spelling error”.

Following a meeting between Imran Khan and Chinese President Xi Jinping, reports had said that China had promised an aid of $6 billion to Pakistan. However, a senior Chinese diplomat later said that more talks would take place to fix the details of the economic aid being referred to by the media.

Pakistan's foreign reserves have plunged 42 percent since the start of the year and now stand at about $8 billion. Last month, Pakistan received a $6 billion rescue package from Saudi Arabia, but officials say it is not enough and the country still plans to seek a bailout from the IMF to avert a balance of payments crisis.