Chinese President Hu Jintao said the new Chinese leadership
attaches great importance to Sino-Pakistani relations and will work
with Pakistan to continuously push forward cooperation.
Hu met Monday afternoon with visiting Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf who arrived here earlier for a three-day state visit to
China. Before arriving here, Musharraf attended the Boao Forum for
Asia Annual Conference 2003 held in Boao, Hainan Province.
Speaking highly of bilateral relations, Hu pointed to bilateral
cooperation with mutual trust and support despite international
changes.
China appreciates Pakistan's support for China on major issues
concerning China's sovereignty and interests, said Hu.
Musharraf said the Pakistani people treasured the traditional
friendship with the Chinese people.
Pakistan will make concerted efforts with China to continuously
promote the overall development of bilateral friendship and
cooperation, said Musharraf.
Hu made a four-point proposal for the further development of
bilateral relations.
The first was to continue frequent bilateral high-level contacts
and promote bilateral exchanges between government and
non-government institutions, especially between the youth of the
two countries.
The second was to strengthen bilateral cooperation for mutual
benefit in such fields as economy, trade, science and technology,
substantiate preferential trade arrangements, and encourage and
support the expansion of cooperation between businesses of the
twosides.
The third was to deepen bilateral cooperation in the field of
non-traditional security, and jointly combat drug trafficking,
trans-national crimes and the "three forces" which threatened
regional peace.
The fourth was to maintain bilateral communication and
coordination in international and regional affairs.
Hu said the joint declaration signed by the two sides on the
future bilateral cooperation was the guideline for bilateral
relations.
Hu said he hoped the relevant departments of the two sides could
cooperate closely to implement all the tasks specified in the
document and jointly push the China-Pakistan all-round cooperative
partnership to a new stage in the new century.
Musharraf said Hu's proposals have significant meaning in
improving Pakistan-China cooperation and he fully agreed with
Hu.
Pakistan stands firmly against terrorism, Musharraf said, adding
that his country will never allow anybody, including the terrorist
force of "East Turkistan", to use the territory of Pakistan to
carry out any form of anti-China activities.
Musharraf said economic and trade cooperation between Pakistan
and China had achieved remarkable results and will have broad
prospects in the future.
He said Pakistan welcomes more Chinese enterprises to invest
inits infrastructure construction and mineral resources
exploitation.
He said Pakistan is also willing to improve bilateral
cooperation and exchanges in tourism, culture and education to
further improve Pakistan-China friendship and lay down a solid
foundation for cooperation.
The two sides also exchanged views on regional issues.
Hu said China will, as always, support the reconciliation
between Pakistan and India and continue to play a constructive role
in promoting peace, security and stability in south Asia.
The two heads of state attended the signing ceremony of
severaldocuments including a joint declaration on the direction of
the future development of China-Pakistan bilateral cooperation and
a treaty on extradition.
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(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2003)