Shehbaz Sharif and Xi Jinping (archive photo)
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif began a four-day visit to China on Saturday, arriving there days after the visit of US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.The New China News Agency (Xinhua) reported that the man arrived in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, without providing further details.The visit comes amid the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran, with Pakistan playing a mediating role between the two sides.But the Chinese Foreign Ministry has not yet confirmed whether Chinese President Xi Jinping and Sharif will discuss the conflict in the Middle East.Earlier this week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiaqun said only “issues of common concern” would be discussed.“China supports Pakistan in playing a fair and balanced mediation role in promoting peace and ending the war,” he told reporters.Islamabad has emerged as a general mediator between Washington and Tehran, hosting historic face-to-face talks last month, but failing to reach a permanent agreement.Meanwhile, Beijing has played a quieter diplomatic role, facilitating phone calls and meetings with officials from Gulf states affected by Iranian attacks in the wake of the joint US-Israeli strikes that sparked the conflict on February 28.
The war has been at a standstill since April 8, after Trump announced a ceasefire.However, in recent days, the US President has described the intermittent negotiations with Iran as being on the “dividing line” between renewed military action and a potential agreement to end the conflict.After high-level talks with Xi in Beijing last week, Trump told Fox News that his Chinese counterpart had offered to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route that Iran has effectively closed since the outbreak of war.The Republican leader’s visit to Beijing was the first by a sitting US president to China since 2017, when Trump himself traveled to the country during his first term.(With AFP inputs)
