Chinese President Xi Jinping met Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday and expressed hope that Pakistan and India can meet each other halfway to improve their strained relations following the Pulwama attack by a JeM suicide bomber.
Both leaders alsoexchanged views on the situations in South Asia, an official Chinese statementhere said about the meeting between Xi and Khan.
The India-Pakistanrelations reportedly figured prominently in the meeting. Xi expressed hope thatPakistan and India can meet each other halfway and promote the stabilisationand improvement of India-Pakistan relations, it said.
Khan arrived in Chinaon April 25 and attended China’s 2nd Belt and Road Forum (BRF) held on April26-27.
The BRF meeting washeld to highlight the achievement of the trillion-dollar Belt and RoadInitiative (BRI) started by Xi in 2013 in which USD 60 billion China-PakistanEconomic Corridor (CPEC) is an important component.
India skipped themeeting for the second time, protesting over the CPEC which is being laidthrough Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PaK).
The Sunday’s meeting between Xi and Khan was regardedsignificant as it was held in the backdrop of heightened tensions between Indiaand Pakistan following the February 14 Pulwama attack which killed 40 CRPFsoldiers.
China had sent itsVice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou to visit Pakistan in March as part of itsefforts to ease the tensions.
Khan’s meeting withXi took place when China is under pressure at the United Nations over itsrepeated attempts to block efforts to declare JeM leader Masood Azhar as aglobal terrorist.
Last month, China puta technical hold on a resolution put forth by the US, the UK and France at theUN’s 1267 counter terrorism committee to declare Azhar as a global terrorist.
The US later took theissue to the UN Security Council (UNSC) in a bid to pressure China to take apublic stance on Azhar’s issue instead of just putting up blocks at the 1267committee.
China had expressedits firm opposition to the issue being taken to the UNSC, saying that thematter headed for settlement and blamed the US for scuttling it.
While there is noword here whether the Azhar issue figured in Xi’s talks with Khan, officialssay there is a sense of wariness on the part of Beijing to block India, the USand other countries’ efforts to blacklist him at the UN on behalf of Pakistan.
Officials hoped thatthe issue could be resolved in the coming weeks following Khan’s visit toChina.
Prior to his meetingwith Xi, Khan called on Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during which the twocountries signed a number of agreements. Earlier, he met Chinese Vice PresidentWang Qishan.
During Sunday’smeeting, Xi expressed China’s firm support to Pakistan to further the bilateralties between the all-weather allies.
“Pakistan isChina’s all-weather strategic cooperative partner. China and Pakistan are ‘ironfriends’ and have always firmly supported each other on issues concerning eachother’s core interests.” Xi said.
China takes Pakistanas a priority in its diplomacy, he said.
“No matter howinternational and regional situations change, China firmly supports Pakistan insafeguarding its sovereignty and national dignity, choosing its own developmentpath suited to its national conditions, combating terrorist and extremistforces, striving for a sound external security environment, and playing aconstructive role in international and regional affairs,” Xi said.
He said majorprogress had been made in bilateral cooperation in the construction of theCPEC, especially in areas such as finance, trade and other aspects, thestatement said.
“In the nextstage, China and Pakistan should make more efforts to advance the all-weatherstrategic cooperation,” Xi said.
He called on bothsides to deepen high-level contacts and mutual support, strengthen strategiccommunication and promote high-quality cooperation in production capacity,infrastructure construction, people’s livelihood and trade within the frameworkof the BRI.
Khan said the CPEChad played an important role in Pakistan’s economic development and theimprovement of people’s lives.
He said he believedmore and more countries will support and participate in the cooperation underthe BRI.
Pakistan is willingto consolidate its traditional friendship with China, deepen pragmaticcooperation and enhance communication and coordination with China inmultilateral affairs, Khan was quoted as saying in the statement.
During his meeting,Khan spoke a few times about India-Pakistan relations and the prospects ofpeace between the two countries.
Addressing Pakistanand China Investment Forum in Beijing on Sunday, he expressed hope that therelations between the two neighbours will improve after the Indian generalelections.
“We want to build a civilized relationship with our Eastern neighbour and there is a possibility that if we can resolve the Kashmir issue through dialogue, things can improve,” he was quoted by state-run Radio Pakistan as saying.