Pakistan is our ‘all-weather strategic partner’: China

China’s comments come ahead of the United Nations Security Council’s March 13 deadline for any country to raise objections against the proposal to list Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar as a ‘global terrorist’.

China’s 'Belt and Road’ plan in Pakistan takes a military turn — The Chinese spokesperson said Pakistan’s effort in counter-terrorism has not only won recognition from China, but also from many countries around the world.

Terming Pakistan as its “all-weather” strategic partner, China on Thursday said that Pakistan appreciates China’s “unbiased attitude” and hopes that Beijing and other members of the international community play a “constructive role” in diffusing tensions between India and Pakistan.

China’s comments come ahead of the United Nations Security Council’s March 13 deadline for any country to raise objections against the proposal to list Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar as a ‘global terrorist’. The proposal is sponsored by France and co-sponsored by the US and the UK. However, China maintained Thursday that it believed a country’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity” should be upheld.

Speaking about Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kong Xuanyou’s visit to Pakistan, foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said the “main mission” for the visit was to exchange views on the situation between India and Pakistan.

He said that Kong had met with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Chief of Staff of the Army and the Foreign Minister. “He stressed that China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic partners. We commend that Pakistan has been restrained and calm and tried to ease the tension,” Lu said.

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Further, he said that China calls on both India and Pakistan to refrain from aggravating the situation, to “uphold regional peace and stability” through dialogue at an early date. “And China will continue to play a constructive role. Pakistan also appreciates China’s unbiased attitude and Pakistan also stressed that it is not willing to see rising tensions. It is willing to resolve the problem with India and hopes that China and other members of the international community can play a constructive role in this process,” Lu said.

Responding to a question at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ briefing here, on whether Kong raised questions about terrorism radiating from Pakistani soil, Lu said the Vice Foreign Minister held in-depth talks in Pakistan on the situation and the tensions between India and Pakistan.

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“So the major concern is the security situation in the region. Recently a lot has happened in this region and they are many issues. China has stated our position. The first, the sovereignty and territorial integrity should be upheld. And as to specific issue like whether we believe, we should take positive measures to ease the tensions, so as to maintain peace and stability in this region. This is a general issue. We believe that Vice Foreign Minister will hold an extensive and in-depth talk with his counterparts,” he said.