Pakistan and China share a long and storied friendship: Umar Rehman Malik

Abdullah Jan

Islamabad: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Umar Rehman Malik said this week that Pakistan and China share a long and storied friendship.

“The PPP starting with #SZAB (Zulfikar Ali Bhutto) has been at the forefront of fostering and further strengthening this relationship,” he said.

Umar Rehman Malik added: “Asif Ali Zardari who conceived #CPEC in his first tenure will be reviewing the brotherly country’s guard of honour. We hope Pakistan and China’s warm relationship will go from strength to strength. Pak-China Dosti Zindabad (Long live Pakistan-China friendship)!”

He was responding to Chinese journalist Shen Shiwei social media announcement which said: “My Pakistani friends! The Chinese #PLA Guard of Honor will send a contingent to our brother country to participate in the #PakistanDay Parade, at the invitation of the Pakistan Army.”

Formal relations between China and Pakistan were established in 1950, when Pakistan was among the first countries to sever diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (ROC) government in favour of recognizing the PRC as the legitimate “China”.

Since then, relations between the two countries have been extremely cordial for more than half a century, which are influenced by their similar geopolitical interests.

Both countries have placed considerable importance on the maintenance of a “special relationship” between them, and their regular exchanges of high-level visits have culminated in the establishment of various cooperative measures.

China has provided economic, technical, and military assistance to Pakistan, both sides regard each other as close strategic allies.