China supports Pakistan’s ‘search for peace through dialogue’ with India

After Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s first bilateral visit to China, Beijing said that it supported Pakistan’s “quest for peace through dialogue” to settle the outstanding disputes with India as it backed Islamabad’s “engagement” with the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

The joint statement said, “China appreciates Pakistan’s quest for peace through dialogue, cooperation and negotiation, on the basis of mutual respect and equality, and supports Pakistan’s efforts for improvement of Pakistan-India relations and for settlement of outstanding disputes between the two countries.”

“The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to multilateral, non-discriminatory arms control and non-proliferation endeavours, they noted with concern the continued pursuit of double standards in the application of non-proliferation norms and procedures and called for policies upholding rule of law and long-standing rules,” the statement added.

The India and Pakistan ties had distorted after the terror attacks by Pakistan-based groups in 2016 and India’s surgical strikes inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

China has avoided from taking a public stance on the India-Pakistan ties, expressing hope for resolution of the disputes through dialogue. On the Kashmir issue, China’s repeated stand was that it should be resolved peacefully through dialogue.

Even India supports dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue with Pakistan but says that the talks and terrorism cannot go together.