Beijing, May 3: Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad and exchanged views on the India-Pakistan tensions as Beijing kept abreast with the evolving situation.
Official media here quoted a press release by the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan on Friday stating that Jiang met Sharif on Thursday and reiterated China’s earlier call for both India and Pakistan to exercise restraint.
China understands Pakistan’s legitimate security concerns and supports its efforts to safeguard national sovereignty and security interests, the press release quoted Jiang as saying.
He expressed China’s support for a prompt and impartial investigation into the incident and called on both India and Pakistan to exercise restraint, meet each other halfway, properly manage differences, and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability, the release said.
Sharif briefed Jiang on recent tensions and expressed appreciation for China’s constructive efforts to promote peace and stability in South Asia and to help de-escalate the situation, according to the release.
Sharif expressed willingness to continue communication and coordination with all parties to jointly prevent further escalation and uphold peace and stability in South Asia, the press release stated.
This is the second engagement between the “all-weather allies” after the Pahalgam terrorist attack which China condemned. Twenty-six people, mostly tourists, were killed in the attack on April 22 in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam.
On April 27, Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar called China’s top diplomat Wang Yi over the phone and briefed him on the latest tensions between India and Pakistan.
Wang said that China is closely following the developments and stressed that combating terrorism is a shared responsibility of the whole world, according to an official statement here.
He added that Beijing supports an impartial investigation as soon as possible, as the conflict does not serve the fundamental interests of either India or Pakistan, nor does it contribute to regional peace and stability.
“As an ironclad friend and an all-weather strategic cooperative partner, China fully understands Pakistan’s legitimate security concerns and supports Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty and security interests”, Wang said.
A day later, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun, while replying to a question on the India-Pakistan tensions, said China welcomes all measures to “cool down” the current situation between the two countries, including a “swift and fair investigation” into the terror attack.
India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia, and the harmonious coexistence between the two countries is crucial to regional peace, stability and development, he said. (PTI)
