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China warmly welcomes Musharraf

BEIJING: Pakistan's Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf was welcomed warmly by old ally China on Monday on his first foreign visit outside the Islamic world since seizing power in an October 12 coup.

Premier Zhu Rongji hailed a "comprehensive partnership" with Pakistan in a meeting with Musharraf in Beijing, state television reported.

"No matter what changes occur in the international situation or domestically on either side, the basic policy will not change," television quoted Zhu as saying.

The men capped the meeting with an agreement for "continued economic cooperation", it said, giving no details.

The two-day visit, which Musharraf said aimed to "fortify" relations between the traditional allies, comes amid fresh Pakistani tensions with India.

In a statement issued after his arrival, Musharraf hailed China as "a country which Pakistan holds dear as its most reliable and trusted friend".

A Xinhua news agency interview quoted him as saying: "The peoples of Pakistan and China share their joys and sorrows. Our hearts beat in unison."

On Tuesday, he is scheduled to meet President Jiang Zemin and parliamentary chairman and former premier Li Peng, who is number two in the Chinese political hierarchy. Gen. Musharraf is accompanied by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and Commerce and Industry Minister Abdul Razzaq Daud.

Musharraf, who assumed the title of Chief Executive, has visited several Islamic countries in apparent moves to gain international acceptance of his government.

He is trying to offset Western-led criticism of his coup that toppled prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

State media in China, a close ally of Pakistan since the 1960s, has stressed that Beijing and Islamabad see eye-to-eye on most international issues, including human rights.

INDO-PAKISTAN TENSIONS, TIBET TIFF

Musharraf visited China last May during a critical military standoff between Pakistan and India over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

His current trip coincides with renewed Indo-Pakistan tensions over the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane last month which New Delhi says was masterminded by Islamabad.

Islamabad rejects the allegation and accuses India of using the eight-day hijacking to isolate Pakistan. The hijack ended on December 31 in Afghanistan with the militants freeing their hostages in exchange for three jailed comrades held by India.

Sino-Indian relations are also at a delicate moment as New Delhi ponders how to handle a possible political asylum request from a high-ranking Tibetan lama who fled to India on January 5.

China has told India to tread carefully and stick to the terms of bilateral agreements as it handles the case of the Karmapa Lama, whose escape through the snowbound Himalayas embarrassed Beijing.

China has left the door open for the boy's return, saying he travelled abroad to collect religious symbols. KASHMIR CLAIMS

Musharraf is the second Pakistani leader to visit China since June, when Sharif came at the height of confrontation with India.

His arrival statement said bilateral ties "have remained strong and steadfast notwithstanding the cataclysmic changes in the political and security environment at the international, regional or domestic level".

China, a leading arms supplier to Pakistan, openly backed Pakistan's claim to all of Kashmir in the 1960s and 1970s, but has publicly avoided taking sides in recent years.

Beijing and New Delhi have eased tensions dating back to their 1962 border war.

India controls about 45 percent of Kashmir and Pakistan just over a third of a region over which the two countries have fought two of their three wars since their independence China holds the remainder of Kashmir. -Reuters