BEIJING/WASHINGTON  -  A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wednesday em­phasised that China and Paki­stan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners and iron-clad brothers and declared that no attempt to undermine coop­eration between the two coun­tries would succeed.

China and Pakistan were all-weather strategic coop­erative partners and iron-clad brothers, and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) greatly contributes to the so­cioeconomic development of Pakistan. No attempt to under­mine China-Pakistan coopera­tion will succeed, Lin Jian said during his regular briefing in response to a question about a terrorist attack causing casu­alties of five Chinese citizens in Pakistan.

While strongly condemning this act of terrorism, he ex­pressed deep condolences over the loss of lives and extended sincere sympathies to the be­reaved families. He said, after this attack, the Chinese minis­try of foreign affairs and Chi­nese embassy in Pakistan im­mediately activated emergency response mechanism, swiftly took emergency re­sponse, engage in close communication with Pakistan in Beijing and Islamabad and asked to thoroughly in­vestigate the incident as soon as possible, hunt down the perpetrators and bring them to justice. We asked Pakistan to take effective measures to protect the safety and security of Chinese nationals, institutions and proj­ects in Pakistan, he added. Lin Jian informed that Paki­stani side promised to thoroughly investigate this in­cident and share the progress to the Chinese side in a timely manner and further strengthen the security mea­sures to ensure safety and security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan.

The spokesperson said, China opposes all forms of terrorism, firmly supports Pakistan in fighting terror­ism and will work with Pakistan with even stronger commitment to do everything possible to protect the safety and security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan.

After the incident, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif vis­ited the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan to convey condo­lences and sympathies to the bereaved families and the Chinese government. He strongly condemned the ter­rorist attack and said that terrorists attempt to harm Pakistan-China friendship will never succeed. China affirms that terrorism is a common enemy of mankind, he said and added, it is a shared responsibility of inter­national community to fight terrorism and ensure that tragedy will not repeat again. He said, China is work­ing with Pakistan on the follow-up work with all-out effort and asked Pakistan to thoroughly investigate the incident as soon as possible, hunt down perpetrators and bring them to justice.The Chinese Embassy in Pa­kistan has reminded Chinese citizens and businesses in Pakistan to closely follow the local security situa­tion, take extra safety precautions, strengthen security measures and do their best to guard against terrorist attacks. The spokesperson said, the Chinese side will continue to support the economic and social develop­ment and improvement of livelihood of Pakistan and deliver concrete cooperation and benefits to the peo­ple of two countries. Meanwhile, the United States has condemned the attack on a convoy of Chinese engi­neers in Bisham.