China hails Pakistan’s smooth general election

China has congratulated Pakistan on its smooth general election, pledging continued firm support to the country.

“China is glad to see that Pakistan’s general election has been smoothly held,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily press briefing on Monday.

Hong’s comments came after the initial results showed, as of 10 a.m. local time on Sunday, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) had secured 86 out of the 152 National Assembly seats, leading the elections by a big margin over other rivals.

“China welcomes and congratulates this,” Hong said, Chinese state Xinhua news agency reported.

As an all-weather partner, China will continue to firmly support Pakistan’s efforts to maintain stability and seek development, Hong said.

“We are convinced that with joint efforts, the China-Pakistan strategic cooperative partnership will be lifted to a new level,” Hong said.

Meanwhile Chinese Premier, Li Keqiang, will visit Pakistan from 22 – 23 May, 2013 at the invitation of President Asif Ali Zardari, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.

“It is the first visit of Premier Li Keqiang to Pakistan after becoming the Premier of the People’s Republic of China,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.

The statement said the visit takes place immediately after the democratic elections in Pakistan.

“It will provide an opportunity to Premier Li to meet the new leadership in Pakistan,” the statement said.

“The visit also provides further impetus to our strategic relations. These friendly ties and the friendship with China is the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy,” it said.

It said the Government and people of Pakistan look forward to the visit of Premier Li Keqiang. A warm welcome awaits him.

The Chinese premier would be the first world leader to visit Pakistan after the may 11 elections, which reflects the strong bonds of friendship between the two countries.

The two sides will discuss bilateral, focusing on promotion of economic cooperation. They will also discuss regional issues and their role for peace as well as Afghanistan.

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Posted by Tahir Khan on May 13 2013. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.