Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf Monday conferred the award of the Nishan-i-Imtiazmilitary on a visiting Chinese general.

 

The award was conferred on General Qiao Qingchen, Air Force commander of the People's Liberation Army of China, in recognition of his consistent and valuable contributions for promoting relations and understanding between the air forces of the two countries.

 

Earlier, Qiao called on Musharraf. Musharraf recalled the extremely close and fraternal relations between China and Pakistan and lauded the services of the Chinese commander in giving a meaningful and purposeful orientation to these ties.

 

In their talks, Qiao conveyed President Hu Jintao's cordial greetings and best wishes to Musharraf.

 

Qiao said that the leaders of the both China and Pakistan had always put utmost importance to the promotion of the bilateral relationship for the last 55 years since the establishment of the diplomatic relations.

 

He said that the frequent exchanges of visits between the two countries' top leaders showed that China and Pakistan had a solid political basis and a great potential for the further development of their full-scale future-oriented partnership of cooperation.

 

Qiao said that the friendship between China and Pakistan had set a good example for peaceful co-existence and cooperation of mutual interest, adding that the peoples of the two countries had always given sympathy and support to each other.

 

He also expressed thanks to Pakistan for the country's coordinated stand with China on issues like Taiwan, Tibet, human rights and fights against terrorism, separatism and extremism.

 

Qiao hoped that China and Pakistan would make a good use of 55 years of two countries' friendship to further deepen their cooperation in areas including politics, economy, culture and military.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2006)