International   

China, Pakistan to set up friendship forum

By P.S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE March 24. China and Pakistan today agreed to set up a bilateral friendship forum in a renewed reaffirmation of their strategic cohabitation. The move was decided upon during the talks that the new Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, held with his Pakistani counterpart, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, in Beijing.

Mr. Jamali arrived in Beijing today on a three-day visit. Mr. Jamali is the first foreign dignitary to be hosted in Beijing by the new Chinese Government, which is headed by Mr. Wen under the presidency of Hu Jintao. The significance of this fact is heightened by the diplomatic signal that Pakistan has now sent to China even as Mr. Jamali kept his tryst with the new Chinese leaders after cancelling a planned visit to the U.S. at this time.

While the Iraq issue seemed to have figured in Mr. Jamali's talks with Mr. Wen, with both sides having called for an early conclusion of this conflict, the overall mood during the talks was defined by Beijing's sustained faith in ``an all-weather friendship'' with Islamabad.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Treat PoWs humanely, warns Bush
• France rejects U.S. plea
• Pak. condemns Pandits' killing
• Chechnya returns to Russian fold
• Pak. not to expel Iraqi diplomats
• Concern over war reverses
• War turning out to be a long haul
• China, Pakistan to set up friendship forum
• Saddam's speech pre-recorded?
• Ensure minorities' safety: Benazir
• Osama may be in Pakistan, says Musharraf
• India presents books to Jaffna library
• End the war, say Arab nations

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu