Pak President Zardari arrives in China on 10-day visit

Beijing | Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in Chengdu on Friday for a ten-day visit to China close on the heels of a five-day visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir.

Zardari is visiting China from September 12 to 21 to attend the opening ceremony of the 2025 Golden Panda International Cultural Forum, and will visit Sichuan province, Shanghai and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said in a press release.

Pakistan’s state-run APP news agency reported that Zardari arrived in Chengdu where he was received by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong.

During the visit, Zardari will hold meetings with the Chinese leadership and senior officials to further strengthen Pakistan-China relations, enhance cooperation in diverse fields, and advance shared objectives under the All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership, the report said.

Sharif and Munir attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit held in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1 after which they met Chinese President Xi Jinping and held talks on the all-weather bilateral ties.

Later they attended the PLA military parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of China’s victory over Japan in World War II.

The flurry of Pakistan leaders' visits followed Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Islamabad from August 20-22 to attend the sixth strategic dialogue.

During the visit, Wang held talks with top civilian and military leaders and focused on strategic cooperation.