NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing border India-China tension in Ladakh, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Pakistan and China ‘have mutual support to each other in the face of common challenges’.
According to a statement from the Pakistan foreign ministry, Qureshi spoke to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Friday during which he said that India’s belligerent posture and expansionist policies were imperilling peace in the region and added the situation in the region was deteriorating.
“During the phone conversation, Qureshi said Pakistan and China are all-weather strategic cooperative partners and had preserved a tradition of expressing solidarity, mutual assistance and mutual support to each other in the face of common challenges,” the statement read.Qureshi also told Wang that Pakistan was committed to the One China policy and firmly backs Beijing with regard to its interests in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang.
“Disputes in the region should be resolved through peaceful means and agreed mechanisms rather than “resorting to unilateral, illegal and coercive measures,” Qureshi said and such measures were reflected by New Delhi’s decision to scrap Article 370, 35A from Jammu and Kashmir in August last year. “Apart from committing egregious violations of human rights, India is seeking to change demographic structure of the occupied territory,” he said.
Pakistan PM Imran Khan vowed that the government would complete the CPEC project at any cost. “The corridor is a manifestation of Pakistan-China friendship and the government will complete it at any cost and bring its fruit to every Pakistani,” he was quoted as saying. Both sides said they would support each other at multilateral institutions. The ministers said they would promote peace.