A Chinese envoy on Wednesday called on the international community to strengthen engagement and dialogue with the Afghan government, saying that the fruits of such contact should be valued.
The international community should view the situation in Afghanistan comprehensively and adopt a holistic approach, said Sun Lei, charge d'affaires of China's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, at a public meeting of the UN Security Council on Afghanistan.
All parties should value the outcomes of engagement and dialogue with the Afghan government, uphold goodwill and patience, and on the basis of respecting Afghanistan's national conditions and stage of development, strengthen pragmatic communication with the Afghan side on issues of mutual concern, continuously enhance mutual trust, resolve differences, and promote Afghanistan's gradual integration into the international community, Sun said at the meeting.
Sun also called on the Afghan government to effectively protect the basic rights and interests of all Afghan people, including women.
China also urged the Afghan side to step up counter-terrorism efforts, eliminate all terrorist forces within its territory at an early date, and strengthen counter-terrorism dialogue and cooperation with regional countries.
China calls for strengthened engagement, dialogue with Afghan gov't
China and Pakistan, sharing ironclad friendship, should deepen practical cooperation across all domains, Defense Secretary of Pakistan Muhammad Ali said in Beijing.
Speaking in an interview with China Media Group (CMG) on the sidelines of the Beijing Xiangshan Forum, Ali praised the forum as an exceptional platform for advancing security cooperation.
"It provides a great opportunity for advancing the cooperative approaches towards security. And it's a brilliant forum," said Ali.
On the bilateral relations, the Pakistani defense official said that China and Pakistan enjoy the deep historical roots of military cooperation.
Joint military exercises between the two countries' ground, navies, and air forces have become flagship cooperative projects in recent years.
"As we know that Pakistan and China, we are all-weather friends, and it's a relationship which is termed as the ironclad relationship. As we used to call it deeper than the ocean and higher than in the mountains in the Himalayas. I think, especially in the field of military cooperation, I think the relationship has been very deep rooted, very historical, a hard core military cooperation of course," said Ali.
Ali also said that the cooperation between the two countries should expand to more areas.
"There is now a time where I believe that the cooperation needs to move towards technology, artificial intelligence, cyber security, and other domains. And China, as we understand, China is leading the globe actually in artificial intelligence. And I think China can really help us that way in technology, artificial intelligence and many other domains," said Ali.
Ali also commended China's constructive geopolitical role, saying that China has consistently remained at the forefront of resolving regional and international disputes.
"China has been, politically and militarily, always at the forefront of resolving the disputes. While China is a very strong country militarily and of course politically, I think China has never forced resolutions. China has been encouraging different regional countries to resolve and helping them to get the issue resolved. Same is the case with the China and Pakistan," said Ali.
Under the theme of "Build Consensus on Stability, Advance Security Governance Together," the three-day forum opened in the Chinese capital on Tuesday, bringing together delegations from almost 100 countries, regions and international organizations.
The forum this year focuses on the prominent and pressing major challenges currently facing the international security landscape.
China, Pakistan should deepen practical cooperation across all domains: Pakistani defense official
