Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari said yesterday that his country’s friendship with China has “gone through ups and downs” but it won’t be broken down by extremist attacks that have killed Chinese nationals that have killed Chinese nationals.
“Pakistan and China will always be friends, all-weather friends,” he said at the opening of talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. “No matter how many terrors, how many issues crop up in the world, I will stand, Pakistan people will stand with the people of China.”
Thousands of Chinese workers work in Pakistan on road and other infrastructure projects under China’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to improve trade routes and deepen China’s ties with the rest of the world.
Chinese workers have been among those targeted in attacks in recent years, including seven who died last year in two separate attacks that raised renewed alarm in China.
Zardari arrived in China Tuesday on a four-day visit that will also take him to the wintry northeastern city of Harbin for the opening ceremony of the 9th Asian Winter Games.
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