China says supports Pakistan’s sovereignty, development efforts

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping has assured President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain that it will continue to support the latter in safeguarding it national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.

President Hussain is in China for the four-day SCO summit.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Monday that Jinping met and Hussain met in Qingdao and held detailed and friendly exchanges on various bilateral matters.

Jinping told Pakistan that China will continue to firmly support Pakistan’s core interests, the ministry said.

The Chinese president also said his country attaches great importance to relations with Pakistan and is willing to work closely with it to strengthen friendly exchanges in various field. Jinping said China is keen to gradually push forward the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the energy and transportation infrastructure projects under the “Belt and Road” framework.

“Cooperation in other areas will enhance the level of anti-terrorism security cooperation and promote greater development of bilateral relations,” he added.

“President Mamnoon Hussain stated that China is a reliable friend and a firm partner of Pakistan and Pakistan-China relations must not be shaken. Pakistan adheres to the One-China policy and firmly supports China's core interests”, Geng quoted Jinping as saying.

President Mamnoon on the occasion said Pakistan is keen on maintaining high-level exchanges with China, deepen cooperation in various fields such as economy, trade, and security, advance the construction of CPEC, and coordinate closely on international and regional issues.

He further said, “Pakistan supports China’s greater role in international affairs and believes that this is crucial to maintaining global security and stability”.

Responding to a question about Jinping meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chinese ministry spokesperson said the two sides agreed to maintain high-level exchanges, strengthen institutional exchanges in various fields, formulate new trade goals, and establish a high-level human resource exchange mechanism led by the two foreign ministers.

The spokesperson said that India assured to allowing Bank of China to open a branch in Mumbai, while China also signed MoU on export of rice from India.

Geng said leaders of both countries also witnessed the signing of the document of cross-border rivers information.