China extends hand to Pakistan while reaching out to India
- Chinese president offers strong backing to Islamabad in meeting with Imran Khan
- Beijing confirms Xi-Modi informal summit in Indian coastal town from Friday
Chinese President Xi Jinping has described ties between China and Pakistan as unbreakable, sending a message of strong support to Islamabad just two days before he meets the prime minister of India.
Xi delivered the assessment in a meeting in Beijing on Wednesday morning with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
In the meeting with Khan, Xi said China and Pakistan should support each other, and that China would help Pakistan with development.
“China and Pakistan enjoy a unique all-weather strategic partnership. No matter how much the geopolitical situation changes, the rock-solid friendship between China and Pakistan is unbreakable,” Chinese state broadcaster CCTV quoted Xi as saying.
Also on Wednesday morning, the foreign ministries of China and India announced that Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would meet for two days from Friday for an informal summit in eastern India.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan seeks Chinese support over Kashmir as he starts Beijing visit
On Tuesday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told Khan that China supported Pakistan in safeguarding its independent sovereignty and territorial integrity.
According to Pakistan’s state news agency Associated Press of Pakistan, Khan thanked Xi and the government for its “principled stand on Kashmir issue” and China’s support at the United Nations.
Despite the strong backing for Pakistan, Xi will be on a mission to mend fences with India when he meets Modi in the coastal town of Mamallapuram near Chennai on October 11-12 before going to Nepal for a state visit on Sunday.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan seeks to bolster China ties ahead of Xi Jinping visit to India
China’s ambassador in India, Sun Weidong, said the Xi-Modi meeting would be a chance to look at broader issues.
“As the only two major developing countries with a population of over one billion and important representatives of emerging economies, [China and India have a relationship] … that transcends the bilateral dimension and assumes global and strategic significance,” Sun was quoted as saying in an interview with Indian newspaper The Hindu.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs echoed the statement, saying the summit would be a chance for the two leaders to “continue their discussions on overarching issues of bilateral, regional and global importance and to exchange views on deepening the India-China Closer Development Partnership”.
The “informal summit” has emerged as a preferred form of diplomatic exchange between the two countries after the first one was held in April last year, helping to normalise relations after a 73-day military stand-off in the Himalayan border area of Doklam in 2017.
Apart from concerns over borders, the two leaders are expected to discuss tourism and trade, including India’s US$53 billion trade deficit with China.