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Pakistan Chinas number one ally: experts
By Anil Datta
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
From Print Edition
Pakistan is Chinas Number 1 ally and the most special country for China.
These were the words of Prof Feng Zhongping, President, China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), as he addressed members of the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs (PIIA) at the institute Tuesday morning.
The occasion was the visit by a five-member delegation of the CICIR who had an interactive discussion with a compact group of PIIA members and journalists. Chairperson of the institute, Dr Masooma Hassan, presided over the proceedings.
Our ties with Pakistan, Zhongping said, are historic and as such we treat Pakistan as a very special country. Pakistan, he said, had a geo-strategic location which was of pivotal importance to China. He said that Pakistan was an old friend of China and added that China had a history of never letting her friends down. Pakistans population of 180 million was of great consequence to China, he said.
Another member of the delegation, citing the importance of Pak-China ties, pointed out that it was Pakistan that helped open up China to the world by starting off an air service between the two countries and cited Pakistans efforts in bringing the US and China closer.
Pakistans location, Zhongping said, was very important as access to the Indian Ocean would make China a two-ocean power, with the Indian Ocean to one side and the Pacific to the other which would benefit the country greatly in light of her rapidly expanding trade with the world.
Source: Pakistan China
