China’s top diplomat to visit Pakistan for strategic dialogue

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi will a pay three-day visit to Pakistan this week for talks with his counterpart Ishaq Dar, an official statement said Tuesday.

The sixth round of China-Pakistan strategic dialogue with be held in Islamabad after Wang reaches Pakistan on Wednesday, following his two-day trip to India.

It would be Wang’s second visit to Pakistan in three years, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing.

“China and Pakistan are iron-clad friends and all-weather friends,” Mao said, adding that the two sides will conduct “in-depth communication” to expand “practical cooperation.”

Wang will also meet Pakistani leadership during his visit, she added.

China and Pakistan are neighbors and the two established diplomatic ties in 1950. In recent years, China has become a top arms supplier to the South Asian nuclear-armed nation, and the trade volume reached over $23 billion in 2024.

The two enjoy "all-weather strategic cooperative partnership" with China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the more than $62 billion infrastructure project that aims to connect China's strategically important northwestern Xinjiang province with Balochistan's Gwadar port in southwestern Pakistan, attaining crucial significance in bilateral ties,