[Dawn] Pakistain's prime minister declared China his country's best friend in an apparent slap at Washington as he was to begin a visit to China on Tuesday with US ties tested over the late Osama bin Laden's... Maybe his Mom misses him...
killing.
Yusuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ...
's trip follows the killing of the al Qaeda leader by US special forces on Pak soil, in a raid that has cast a pall over US Pakistain ties and was widely expected to push Islamabad closer to Beijing.
"We appreciate that in all difficult circumstances, China stood with Pakistain.
Therefore we call China a true friend and a time-tested and all-weather friend," Gilani told China's official Xinhua news agency.
"We are proud to have China as our best and most trusted friend, and China will always find Pakistain standing beside it at all times," he said in an interview released Tuesday.
Gilani's comments appeared to underscore tensions with Washington following the May 2 US raid on a compound in northern Pakistain, which left the country's civilian and military leaders angry and embarrassed.
On Monday, US Senator John
I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, the Senate's current
foreign policy expert, filling the vacated wingtips of Joe Biden...
demanded Pakistain make progress against terrorism through "actions, not by words" in a visit to the country.
The fact that the terrorist criminal mastermind had been hiding out in Pakistain, possibly for years, has raised accusations the country's powerful security establishment was either incompetent or complicit in bid Laden finding a haven.
Gilani was to arrive in Shanghai on Tuesday and speak on Wednesday at a cultural forum in the eastern city of Suzhou, Pak officials said.
He will then travel to Beijing, where he will meet with Chinese leaders including President Hu Jintao
...Hu has been involved in the Communist party bureaucracy for most of his adult life, meaning his viewpoint has a lot more theory than it does practice. He espouses a
Harmonious Societyapproach, suggesting everybody should play nice or they'll be shot...
and Premier Wen Jiabao.
The two sides are expected to sign a series of cooperation agreements and discuss how they can better combat extremism.
China is the main arms supplier to Pakistain, which sees Beijing as an important counter-balance to Pakistain's traditional rival India. India has recently improved its ties with the United States, causing worry in Islamabad.
China has voiced firm support for Pakistain since the bin Laden episode and the two were expected to reaffirm their "all-weather" friendship during Gilani's stay.
By contrast, Kerry stressed that US politicians were demanding a review of billions of dollars in aid money to Pakistain.
"Ultimately, the Pak people will decide what kind of country Pakistain becomes, whether it is a haven for Islamic fascisti or the tolerant democracy that (Pak founder) Muhammad Ali Jinnah envisioned 64 years ago," said Kerry, chair of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
