Islamabad, 27 September 2011: President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the challenge and the opportunity for Pakistan and China was to reshape their exemplary friendship into a modern twenty-first century partnership.

 

This he said during his visit to the Chinese embassy to participate in China’s National Day Celebrations.

 

Addressing the gathering at the Chinese embassy, the President said that with October First in sight, he wishes to felicitate the people and Government of the People’s Republic of China on crossing yet another grand, historic milestone. The people of Pakistan, the President said, join their Chinese brethren in celebrating that important turning point in world history, the formal proclamation by Chairman Mao of the founding of the People’s Republic.

 

Lauding Chinese unprecedented achievements and success story, the President said that never before in the annals of history had a people taken hold of their destiny so resolutely, marched forward with such distinction and accomplished such great feats.

 

The President said that first October 1949 marked not only the birth of the People’s Republic, but also the birth of a miracle, a brilliant chapter in the story of human kind. This Chinese miracle continues to unfold to this day, he said. 

 

He said that in arts and craft, in culture and commerce, in social and economic development, in science and technology, indeed in any and every field of human endeavor, China continues to break barrier after barrier, cross one threshold after another. We rejoice in your success, he continued.

 

He said we also celebrate the friendship between our two peoples and it is not a coincidence that 2011 was also being celebrated in both China and Pakistan as the Year of Sino-Pak friendship.

 

Terming as his proud privilege to carry on the mantle, the President said that it is a matter of great pride that the foundations of historic Pak-China partnership were laid by the founder of Pakistan People’s Party, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, and was carried forward resolutely by Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

 

The President said that together, the two nations have supported each other through thick and thin and forged ahead, hand in hand. Together, he said, our future generations, will accomplish much. 

 

The President, on this occasion, also thanked the Government and people of China for their timely assistance for the flood victims in Sindh. Expressing hope that the people of Pakistan would be able to overcome this calamity with the assistance of friends in the international community, the President said that Chinese help was the mark of a true friend, for which, the Pakistani people were truly grateful.