What was said behind closed doors during Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir's China visit? Was India mentioned?

Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir is in China to hold talks with the Chinese leadership, including military leaders. This is Munir's first visit to China after his elevation as the Field Marshal. The visit also comes barely a few months after the brief, but tense India-Pakistan military standoff during which China is reported to have offered substantial real-time and strategic support to Pakistan.

 

The Pakistan Army chief held separate meetings with China's Vice President Han Zheng, top military official General Zhang Youxia and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

 

According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan military, the "Chinese leadership lauded the Pakistan Armed Forces as a cornerstone of resilience and a vital contributor to peace in South Asia".

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In his talks with Han and Wang, the Pakistan Army chief focused on the evolving regional and global political landscape, connectivity initiatives under the  China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and the need for coordinated responses to shared geopolitical challenges.

 

Both sides expressed satisfaction over the depth of bilateral engagement and reiterated their shared commitment to sovereign equality, multilateral cooperation, and long-term regional stability.

 

All-weather allies

 

According to Xinhua news agency,  Han, during the meeting with Munir, said China and Pakistan are iron-clad friends and all-weather strategic cooperative partners, with bilateral relations marked by high-level mutual trust, solidarity through challenges, and a shared future.

 

Han said China is willing to work with Pakistan to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, deepen all-weather friendship, expand all-round cooperation, and accelerate the building of a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era.

 

Munir told Han that the Pakistani military is ready to further implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and continuously deepen the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between the two sides.

 

Meeting the military leadership

 

Munir met Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission General Zhang Youxia, and other top leaders of the People's Liberation Army and discussed defence modernisation—China is the primary supplier of defence equipment to Islamabad, accounting for more than 80 per cent of Pakistan's military imports—, joint military exercises and training, and increased institutional cooperation. 

 

While there was no specific mention of India in the ISPR statement, it said Pakistan and China also discussed improving interoperability between the forces of the two sides to tackle hybrid and transnational threats. Munir thanked China for their “unwavering support” and asserted that his country is committed to deepening defence cooperation across all domains. 

 

Gen. Zhang is reported to have said that military-to-military relations between China and Pakistan are an important pillar of the bilateral relationship.

Defence