BEIJING (AP) 鈥 Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari said Wednesday that his country's friendship with China has 鈥済one through ups and downs鈥 but it won't be broken down by extremist attacks that have killed Chinese nationals.
鈥淧akistan and China will always be friends, all-weather friends,鈥 he said at the opening of talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. 鈥淣o matter how many terrors, how many issues crop up in the world, I will stand, Pakistan people will stand, with the people of China.鈥
Thousands of Chinese work in Pakistan on road and other infrastructure projects under China's multibillion-dollar , which aims to improve trade routes and deepen China鈥檚 ties with the rest of the world. Chinese workers have been among those targeted in attacks in recent years, including 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.
He said that many forces are trying to disturb the relationship between the two countries by launching attacks on 鈥淐hinese brothers.鈥
Xi said that China and Pakistan have an enduring friendship and have set a model for relations between two countries by advancing the construction of the and cooperation in various fields.
A Chinese-funded $230 million airport, the largest in Pakistan, in the coastal city of Gwadar in Baluchistan province, where a separatist group has targeting many groups including Chinese.
A shipping port in Gwadar is the end of the envisioned economic corridor, which would cross the length of Pakistan to link the western Chinese region of Xinjiang with the Arabian Sea.
鈥淭he Chinese side is willing to work with the Pakistani side to move forward hand-in-hand on our respective paths of modernization,鈥 Xi said.
The start of operations at the airport was delayed from last year after a surge in attacks in Baluchistan.
