President Alvi’s visit comes at special moment, demonstrates ironclad friendship: China

BEIJING, Mar 18 (APP):Terming the visit of President Dr Arif Alvi of special significance, a Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesperson said on Wednesday that it had boosted traditional friendship and mutual beneficial cooperation.
“The visit was short but it came at a special time, and is of special significance. It has boosted traditional friendship and mutual beneficial cooperation,” Geng Shuang said during his regular briefing while commenting on President Alvi’s two-day visit to China that concluded yesterday.
He said China and Pakistan stood together in solidarity with mutual assistance. There had been numerous touching stories in this process.
“This people to people friendship is the firm foundation for this bilateral relationship. It’s also an example of building a community with a shared future. After we overcome these challenges, the iron clad friendship will be deepened and cemented, injecting greater strength to our all-weather strategic cooperative partnership,” he added.
Sharing detail of the visit, he said yesterday President Alvi paid his first visit to China after assuming office. This visit came at a special moment when the Chinese people and govt were fighting for the final victory over the virus. “It demonstrates our special iron clad friendship.”
He said the Chinese side attached importance to this visit. President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and Chairman Li Zhanshu held meetings and talks with him.
He said there were press releases on them and there was also a joint statement about the consensus, adding, “I would just add that, first, the visit demonstrates our iron clad friendship. President Alvi said that Pakistan believes we have an extraordinary relationship.
In times of difficulties, Pakistan will stand more firmly with China. Pakistanis leadership and whole nation support the timing of the visit, which aims to convey support and confidence and show China’s success to the international world and demonstrate its contribution to the world.”
Geng Shuang remarked that second, it demonstrated a tradition of mutual assistance between the two countries. When the epidemic first stuck, Pakistan pulled nationwide resources to help China and added, “We will never forget that. We will always repay other’s kindness.”
With the situation improving at home and with the rising cases in Pakistan, Chinese leadership explicitly stated that the Chinese side will do its best to help Pakistan based on its need. “We will follow the leaderships consensus and continue to offer every assistance we can to the Pakistani people in fighting the virus and the plague of locust.”
The spokesperson said that third, the visit deepened strategic mutual trust and practical cooperation. The leadership exchanged ideas on prevention and control of epidemic, coordinating epidemic response and economic and social development and dealing with external economic and financial risk and deepening China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) cooperation.
The two sides also signed MoUs on adding a science and agriculture joint working group to the CPEC joint committee to expand cooperation. “These strategic consensuses will further deepen our all-round cooperation.”