Asim Munir is part of Sharif’s delegation, which participated in the SCO summit in Tianjin and will attend a grand parade of the Chinese army to be held on Wednesday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
Pakistan’s Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, held his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, accompanied by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The discussions covered a wide range of issues, including bilateral relations and regional cooperation.
The meeting came a day after the SCO summit concluded with a joint declaration condemning the Pahalgam terror attack in particular, and terrorism in general. Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the leaders who attended the summit.
While Xi met Prime Minister Modi and a host of other leaders, who attended the SCO summit in Tianjin, Sharif was allocated the slot on Tuesday to meet the Chinese President in Beijing.
Asim Munirย part of Sharifโs high-level delegationย
Munir is part of Sharifโs high-level delegation attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin. The delegation is also scheduled to witness a grand parade of the Chinese army on Wednesday, marking the 80th anniversary of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
This is second visit of Munir after taking over as Field Marshal. In July Munir met Vice President Han Zheng but not President Xi, unlike his predecessor General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
His visit followed after he was hosted for lunch by US President Donald Trump, a rare gesture by an American leader which raised eyebrows in China, considering Pak-China all-weather ties.
Munir was expected to join Sharif to watch the parade in which the Chinese military plans to display its most modern weapons of all varieties, including aerial, ground, electronic and missile systems. The weapons systems were of big interest to the Pakistan military as over 80 per cent of its weapons acquisitions are from China.
Munir-Sharif and Xi meetingย
During the meeting, President Xi underlined the importance of the China-Pakistan partnership, saying that as “global changes unseen in a century are unfolding at a quicker pace,” a strong China-Pakistan relationship was vital to safeguarding regional peace and development.ย
The two sides should accelerate building an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, to bring more benefits to the two peoples and set up a model for the broader neighbourhood, he said.
China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted President Xi Jinping as saying that China stands ready to work with Pakistan to build upgraded versions of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement. China hopes Pakistan will take effective measures to ensure the safety of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan, Xi further said, as per a PTI report.
On his part, Sharif hailed the Global Governance Initiative (GGI), proposed by Xi at the SCO summit to improve global governance, saying it is of great significance for world peace, development and stability, and Pakistan will give it full support and work actively to implement it, added the report.
(With PTI inputs)
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