BEIJING: Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged closer ties between China and Pakistan, amid already close friendship.

China and Pakistan need to step up in forging a closer community with a shared future more than ever, he said via a video link at the opening ceremony of a seminar commemorating 70 years since China and Pakistan established diplomatic relations, according to the Chinese media on Thursday.

Noting China and Pakistan have forged ahead over the past 70 years sharing weal and woe, Wang Yi said the two countries have fostered a unique “iron-clad friendship” with rock-firm mutual political trust. He called their bilateral ties a most valuable strategic asset.

The Chinese official called for strengthening strategic communication, especially top-level official dialogues for on-time strategic guidance for the development of bilateral ties.

He also urged the two sides to work together to defeat Covid-19, earnestly advance the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), jointly safeguard regional peace and practice real multilateralism.

China sincerely hopes Pakistan would enjoy unity, stability and development, and be stronger, he said, adding that no matter how the international landscape shifts, China will always stand side-by-side with Pakistan and staunchly support it in safeguarding national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and in blazing a development path suited to Pakistan’s national realities to realise the grand vision of a “new Pakistan”, Wang Yi added.

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