China to work with new Pakistani govt to add new impetus to bilateral ties: Zhao Lijian

Beijing: China would continue to work with the new Pakistani administration led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to have close communication at different levels and add new impetus to bilateral cooperation between two all-weather friends and strategic cooperative partners, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

“We appreciate the positive comments by PM Shahbaz regarding China-Pakistan Economic Cooperation (CPEC) cooperation,” Zhao Lijian said in his regular briefing while commenting on a meeting between PM Shehbaz Sharif and Pang Chunxue, charge d’ affairs of the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan held in Islamabad.

During meeting, PM Shehbaz Sharif told the Charge d’ Affairs that Pakistan’s new government attached great importance to strengthening relations between Pakistan and China and was ready to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in agriculture, science and technology, education and poverty alleviation and push forward the construction of the CPEC with greater vigor and efficiency to better benefit the two countries and the two peoples.

The spokesperson said that China and Pakistan were all weather strategic cooperation partners and iron clad brothers, and added, “We will as always put Pakistan as a priority of our neighbourhood diplomacy and to support its efforts to realise revitalisation.”

He said that the Chinese side would continue to work with the new Pakistani administration to have close communication at different levels and add new impetus into our bilateral cooperation and to build CPEC with high standard in a sustained manner to benefit the people and a build a closer community with a shared future.

Shehbaz Sharif, President of PML (N) and a key leader of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), was sworn in as the 23rd prime minister of Pakistan last week after securing 174 votes from the 342-seat National Assembly, officially taking over from former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who lost a no-confidence vote in the lower house of the parliament.