Pak's Asif meets Chinese Vice-President, touts strong bilateral ties

Beijing [China], Apr 25 (ANI): Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday met Chinese Vice-President Wang Qishan and touted strong bilateral relations between the two sides.

During the meeting, the two leaders called for deeper cooperation in various sectors to further strengthen bilateral relations between Pakistan and China, Xinhua reported.

"Pakistan stands ready to deepen bilateral cooperation in various fields and firmly supports China on issues concerning China's core interests," Asif said.

Calling Islamabad as an "all-weather ally," Qishan added, "China-Pakistan relations should take the lead in building a community with a shared future for humanity."

Asif and Pakistan Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers and Defence Ministers meetings' of the SCO member states respectively from April 23-24 in Beijing.

On a related note, the Ministry of External Affairs had earlier confirmed that there would be no bilateral meeting between Sushma Swaraj, Nirmala Sitharaman, and their Pakistani counterparts on the sidelines of the SCO.

The annual summit of the SCO, in which India and Pakistan became full members last year, will take place in the Chinese city of Qingdao in June.

The SCO, which is headquartered in Beijing, was founded in 2001.

It comprises of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Pakistan, and aims at military cooperation between the member states. (ANI)