Zardari, Bilawal, Fawad hail 70 years of Pak-China friendship

ISLAMABAD: Former President and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari felicitated Pakistan and China on completing 70 years of friendship and reiterated the commitment of deep and everlasting ties with the people of China.

Bilawal tweeted with hashtag #70yearsofPakChina friendship and stated that we celebrate 70 years of Pakistan-China friendship with commitment to take the deep and everlasting friendship between two countries to new heights.

Bilawal said he look forward to building on the strong foundations laid by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and former President Asif Ali Zardari, who all took relationship to new heights. “We remain committed to our deep and everlasting ties with the people of China,” he said.

While facilitating on completion of 70 years of friendship between Pakistan and China, Asif Ali Zardari said the foundation of this friendship was laid by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as the foreign minister of Pakistan and the longevity of this bond is testament of the well-wishing nature and mutual respect between both countries.

Zardari said this friendship is regarded as deeper than the oceans and taller than the Himalayas, which has stood the test of time for several decades. He said the PPP is proud to have initiated the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is a practical manifestation of the friendship between both countries.

Meanwhile, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said Pakistan and China are not only close to each other diplomatically but “our relations are far beyond political and economic dimensions”.

“Our relationship started with defence cooperation, which turned into a strategic relationship in 1966 and an economic one in 1972. Now there is a very comprehensive framework for relations between Pakistan and China,” he maintained.

“We are proud of the relationship based on love and mutual respect which is rooted in the people, the people of Pakistan understand that China stood by us in every difficult hour. Similarly, Pakistan also helped China in every challenge,” he said.

To celebrate the anniversary, China Post and Pakistan Post jointly designed and issued a special set of stamps. The two stamps feature the sister ports of Gwadar in Pakistan's Balochistan Province and Zhuhai in South China's Guangdong Province.

The two ports mirrored the cooperation of the two countries under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. Pakistani Ambassador to China Moinul Haque and other senior diplomats from the embassy attended the ceremony in Beijing on Friday. Moinul Haque said the stamps are an invaluable chronicle of the seven splendid decades of the unique and ironclad friendship.