BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday he was watching the situation in Kashmir and would support Pakistan in issues related to its core interests.
President Xi told Prime Minister Imran Khan during a meeting in Beijing that the rights and wrongs of the situation were clear. “China supports Pakistan to safeguard its own legitimate rights and hopes that the relevant parties can solve their disputes through peaceful dialogue,” Xi said.
In a meeting held at the People’s Great Hall of China, the two leaders resolved to “further deepen strategic communication and strengthen all-weather cooperation”.
The Prime Minister was accompanied by Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, DG ISI Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Minister of Planning Khusro Bakhtiar, Minister of Railways Sheikh Raheed Ahmed, Commece Adviser Abdul Razak Dawood, PM’s Special Assistant on Petroleum Nadeem Babar and Chairman Board of Investment Zubair Gilani and senior officials.
President Xi said China sincerely hopes to help Pakistan develop faster and better. “China and Pakistan have a fine tradition of mutual support and assistance,” he added.
Noting that Pakistan used to provide selfless help to China when China was in difficulties, Xi said now that China has developed, it sincerely hopes to help Pakistan develop faster and better.
President Xi said is ready to work with Pakistan to forge a closer China-Pakistan community of shared future in the new era.
Noting that China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners, Xi said no matter how the international and regional situation changes, the friendship between China and Pakistan has always been unbreakable and rock-solid, and China-Pakistan cooperation has always maintained strong vitality.
President Xi extended his country’s “unwavering support to Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
President Xi also expressed support “on all issues of Pakistan’s core national interest”, saying China’s relationship with Pakistan was “rock-solid and unbreakable”.
Both leaders exchanged views on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues in a cordial and friendly atmosphere.
Prime Minister Khan assured the Chinese President of speedy completion of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects treating it as ‘top priority of his government’.
He said CPEC would play a transformational role in accelerating Pakistan’s economic development and promoting regional connectivity and prosperity.
Imran underscored that China was Pakistan’s steadfast ally, staunch partner and iron brother that firmly supported its national interests besides advancing economic goals.
He also reaffirmed Pakistan’s steadfast support to China on all issues of core interest.
On Kashmir issue, Imran highlighted the continued lockdown of millions of Kashmiris for over two months that created a dire humanitarian situation in the Valley. He stressed the urgency to immediately lift curfew in Occupied Kashmir to alleviate the sufferings of Kashmiris to avert risks to peace and security in the region.
President Xi lauded agenda of Imran Khan’s government of socio-economic development and people-centric progress. He also lauded Pakistan’s efforts to expeditiously execute CPEC projects and stressed that it would help national and regional economic development process.
He expressed confidence that the strong vibrancy between the two countries would deepen and broaden in future.
President Xi appreciated Pakistan’s efforts in combating terrorism and maintained that Pakistan through institutional and economic reforms was resolutely and promisingly on the way to substantial economic development.
Both leaders agreed that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan would promote economic development and connectivity in the region and expressed the resolve to continue to support peace and reconciliation process.
The meeting agreed to keep momentum of high-level exchanges between Pakistan and China as the two leaders expressed satisfaction over close cooperation at multilateral fora.
During the meeting, Imran Khan thanked the Chinese President and the government for its principled stand on Kashmir issue. He particularly mentioned Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s stand on Kashmir issue at the UN General Assembly.
The prime minister said everywhere you supported Pakistan in difficult times. He briefed the president about Pakistan’s present situation and said Pakistan has come out of difficult economic situation and added, “We will never forget China’s financial cooperation in this regard.”
He said China has never asked anything for its support against our national interest and helped us without any conditionality. Imran said China provided Pakistan an opportunity to come out of very difficult economic situation and appreciated the Chinese support under the CPEC framework.
The prime minister congratulated president Xi on the 70th anniversary of founding of People’s republic of China.
The Chinese President lauded prime minister Imran Khan for speaking on China-Pakistan relations during UN General Assembly’s session.
PM MEETS NPC CHAIRMAN
Prime Minister Imran Khan stressed that completion of CPEC was top priority of his government and hoped that its Phase-II would pave the way for further socio-economic development and livelihood opportunities for the people of Pakistan.
The prime minister expressed these views during a meeting with National People’s Congress (NPC) Chairman Li Zhanshu at the Great Hall of the People.
Imran reiterated that Pakistan and China were close friends, steadfast partners and ‘iron brothers’. He underlined that China’s economic transformation in the last few decades had been very impressive and worth emulating.
The prime minister particularly noted that Pakistan wanted to learn from China’s experience of poverty mitigation and expressed his determination to reduce poverty in Pakistan by following China’s model.
He also solicited support of China in improving Pakistan’s agriculture and AI (Artificial Intelligence) sectors. He proposed that, given Pakistan’s unique advantages, Chinese companies might relocate their industries to the country.
Imran underscored that India’s illegal actions of August 5 had created a dire humanitarian situation in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) and urged that the curfew imposed for over two months in the IOJ&K needed to be lifted immediately enabling people to have access to basic human needs.
Chairman Li Zhanshu reaffirmed Chinese leadership’s commitment to support Pakistan on issues of its core national interest. Li, recognizing the promise of Pakistan with its forward-looking policies, maintained that China would support Pakistan in initiatives proposed by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He also maintained that both China and Pakistan could propose new projects that could be included in the CPEC.