China welcomes Manmohan-Sharif meeting

Welcoming the meeting between prime ministers of India and Pakistan in New York, China today said it supports efforts by the two neighbours to resolve their differences through dialogue as it is critical to the region's peace and stability.
"We welcome the efforts made by the leaders of India and Pakistan to improve bilateral relations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said while welcoming the meeting between Manmohan Singh and Nawaz Sharif.
"India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia, the improvement of their relations is critical to peace, stability and development in the region," Hong said.
"As their common neighbours and friends, China supports, as we always, efforts by India and Pakistan to solve their differences through dialogue and cooperation to achieve common development," he said.

Singh and Sharif yesterday met in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly for the first time and discussed ways to normalise bilateral ties, in the grim backdrop of India's concerns over continued terrorism emanating from Pakistan.