Pakistan will strengthen economic, defense and anti-terrorism cooperation with China, and promised to guarantee the security of Chinese nationals in the country, the chairman of Pakistan’s Senate told Chinese reporters yesterday.
Senate Chairman Farooq Hamid Naek said, “We guarantee we are doing our best to ensure Chinese nationals are safe and secure” because they have contributed a lot to the development of Pakistan and stayed there “despite suffering losses, even their lives. When we are protecting them, we are protecting our own Pakistan.”
Regarding China’s handling of the July 5 riots in Urumqi, Naek suggested that “We support the stand taken by the Chinese government. We are against terrorism and separatism. Violence has got to be suppressed, and justice has to be done. Pakistan has blocked the meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in this regard.”
Naek pointed out that Pakistan and China could cooperate in many fields, such as sports, media and people-to-people exchanges, while giving priority to the economy, defense, and combating terrorism, separatism and extremism.
“Pakistan and China are old and trusted friends, and our friendship dates back five decades,” he said, adding that the friendship has been strengthened by many great Pakistani leaders, such as former President Pervez Musharraf, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, the current Prime Minister.
Asked by the Global Times about the purpose of his visit, the chairman said he was leading a delegation of senators to China to “renew and strengthen the ties and friendship between the two countries.”
The senate chairman arrived in Shanghai on July 10 and inspected the Pakistan Pavilion for the Shanghai Expo 2010 there. He met with China’s top legislator Wu Bangguo and top political advisor Jia Qinglin in Beijing early this week.
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