Days before President Asif Ali Zardari is expected to visit India, Pakistan has reiterated its all-weather friendship with China, declaring that Beijing's enemies were Islamabad's enemies as well.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, in China to attend an economic forum, said at a meeting with Vice-Premier Le Keqiang that "China's friend is our friend and China's enemy is our enemy".
 
Gilani was meeting Li – who is most likely to replace Wen Jiabao as China's next Premier later this year – on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia, which is underway Boao in Hainan, an island off the southern coast of China.
 
"We consider China's security as our own security," Gilani added. He also called for good ties with neighbouring countries including India.
 
Gilani's declaration was affirmed by Li, who, according to agency reports from Boao, said: "No matter what changes take place at the international level, we will uphold Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity. China supports Pakistan's role in regional and international affairs."
 
The reaffirmation of friendship comes weeks after a Chinese national was murdered in Peshawar. The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed that they killed her to "avenge the atrocities carried out by Chinese security forces on Muslims in Xinjiang".
 
The Peshawar murder was preceded by violence in the remote Xinjiang province, which borders Pakistan, where several persons were stabbed to death and some more killed in retaliation by security forces. Many killed were Muslim Uighurs.
 
Chinese officials blamed East Turkistan Islamic Movement separatists, allegedly trained in Pakistan, who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan.
 
 
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