Amid indications that Pakistan was seeking a atomic agreement with China on the lines of the Indo-US nuclear pact, President Asif Ali Zardari will visit Beijing for talks.
BEIJING: Amid indications that Pakistan was seeking a atomic agreement with China on the lines of the Indo-US nuclear pact, President Asif Ali Zardari will visit Beijing next week for talks with the Chinese leadership to strengthen their "all-weather" bilateral ties.
"As a guest of Chinese President Hu Jintao, Zardari will pay a state visit to China from October 14 to 17," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang announced here.
"China is looking forward to and welcomes Zardari's visit," Qin said.
During his stay, Zardari is expected to hold talks with Hu and meet with other Chinese leaders, including top legislator Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao.
China expects Zardari's visit to deepen bilateral strategic and cooperative partnership, Qin was quoted as saying by the offical news agency.
Earlier, soon after the US Senate overwhelmingly approved the Indo-US nuclear deal on October 4, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had indicated that Islamabad may seek a similar arrangement with China after the US repeatedly said no to Islamabad's plea for a bilateral atomic pact.
"Pakistan will now make efforts for a civil nuclear deal and they (the international community) will have to accommodate us," Gilani said.
Stressing that there was "no need to worry", Gilani said, "Now that the civil nuclear deal with India has been finalised, Pakistan will have the right to ask for a similar deal because we do not want there to be any discrimination."
Asked if Pakistan would seek nuclear technology and know-how from China, Gilani said Beijing and Islamabad had a "unique relationship" that was a "time-tested and all-weather friendship".
"Very soon the President (Asif Ali Zardari) and myself will be visiting China. Our cooperation is not limited to any one field (and we have) multi-dimensional cooperation. Our cooperation in defence will increase," Gilani had said.
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