Xi offers support for better India-Pakistan ties

BEIJING: A day after PM Narendra Modi told Chinese President Xi Jinping about his grave concerns about terror attacks from Pakistan, Xi offered Beijing's support, during discussions on Friday morning with Pakistan PM Imran Khan, for the improvement of the Delhi-Islamabad relationship.
The leaders were in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit which ended on Friday.
China "supports Pakistan and India in improving their relations," the Chinese leader was quoted as saying by Xinhua. Xi also offered Pakistan the necessary assistance to build its capability to fight terrorism. China is also concerned about terrorism in Pakistan because it may affect the Beijing-funded $60-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
Modi had said in discussions with Xi on Thursday that for the resumption of dialogue India expected "concrete action" by Islamabad to create an atmosphere "free of terror".
On China-India relations, Xi told Modi on Thursday that China and India "do not pose threats" to each other, Xinhua reported on Friday. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the SCO summit. "China and India offer to each other chances for development, and do not pose each other threats (sic)," Xinhua, China's official news agency, quotedx Xi as telling Modi. He called for strengthening confidence-building measures to maintain stability at the border. One of SCO's chief goals is the battle against terrorism. New Delhi wants SCO, which has China, Russia, India and Pakistan as members, to show that it is really capable to directing one of its members to stop terrorism on its soil.
"The two sides should expand and enrich the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor with new focus on areas including industrial parks, agriculture and social welfare," Xi said.
Talking about efforts to resolve the India-China border dispute, Xi said, "We need to make good use of the meeting of the special representatives on the boundary issue and other mechanisms, strengthen confidence-building measures and maintain stability at the border areas."