China supports Pakistan's counter terrorism efforts: Wang Yi

Beijing: China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday expressed Beijing's support for Islamabad's counter terrorism efforts while echoing concerns over the safety of Chinese personnel and projects in the country during his meeting with Pakistan's counterpart Ishaq Dar.

China supports Pakistan in continuing its counter-terrorism efforts to the end, Wang told Dar in their meeting in Tianjin city, an official release said.

The Chinese government always cares about the safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan and believes that Pakistan will continue to make every effort to ensure the security of Chinese personnel, projects, and institutions in the country, he said, referring to numerous attacks on Chinese nationals working in several CPEC projects in Pakistan in the past.

Describing China-Pakistan close friendship as “unique and time-tested”, Wang told Dar that their frequent meetings reflect the high level of the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.

China is willing to strengthen strategic dialogue with Pakistan, jointly build the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with high quality, and deepen cooperation in areas such as agriculture, industry and mining, he said.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a post on 'X' that the two leaders held wide-ranging discussions on key areas of mutual interest, including the CPEC and multilateral cooperation.

"Both sides reiterated their firm commitment to further strengthening bilateral cooperation to promote regional peace, stability, and development," it said.

Dar, also the Deputy Prime Minister, was on a three-day visit to China to take part in the Foreign Ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) held in Tianjin on Tuesday.