COAS meets China's Defence Minister

Pakistan Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met Chinese Defence Minister General Liang Guan-glie. China said its civilian nuclear cooperation with Pakistan was for peaceful purposes, after the United States said it was seeking clarification from China on a deal to build two new reactors. I want to stress that the civilian nuclear cooperation between China and Pakistan is in line with each sides international obligations, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news briefing in Beijing. It is for peaceful purposes, and is under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, he added without elaborating. The state-run China National Nuclear Corporation has agreed to finance two reactors in Punjab province. The deal comes after China in 2004 entered the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a group of nuclear energy states that forbids exports to nations lacking strict International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. Top Chinese legislator Wu Bangguo said that his country would work with Pakistan to promote a strategic cooperative partnership between the two neighbors. We should work together to deepen bilateral cooperation in defense security and other sectors, Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress (NPC), said when meeting with Pakistani Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, reports Xinhua news agency. Hailing the good-neighborly friendship between the two nations, Wu said the bilateral all-weather friendship and all-round cooperation accorded with the fundamental interests of the two peoples and played an important role in safeguarding regional peace and promoting common development.