Xi hails 'unbreakable' Pakistan ties

Trump links Abraham Accords to Iran deal

FE Team | Published: May 25, 2026 22:02:09

BEIJING, May 25 (Reuters): President Xi Jinping hailed China's "unbreakable" friendship with Pakistan on Monday as he met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Beijing, seeking to deepen their "all-weather" partnership.
Xi welcomed the Pakistani leader as an "old friend" at Beijing's Great Hall of the People and said the two countries had "understood, trusted and supported each other" over decades.
Pakistan is among an exclusive group of countries which China regards as an "all-weather strategic partner", spanning close economic, tradeand security cooperation.
But Islamist militant attacks on Chinese nationals and projects in southwest Pakistan where China has big infrastructure investments have irked Beijing, while Islamabad's warmer ties with Washington have complicated the relationship.
"No matter how the international situation changes, China always prioritises the development of China-Pakistan relations in its neighbourhood diplomacy," Xi said.
China called for enhancing cooperation in agriculture, industry, artificial intelligence and talent cultivation with Pakistan, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said.
Beijing was willing to work with Islamabad to build a closer-knit China-Pakistan community with a shared future, CCTV reported, adding that the Chinese leader emphasised maintaining high-level exchanges and strengthening strategic communication.
Sharif, in turn,called China and Pakistan two "iron brother" countries with a relationship that is "next to none".
Trump said on Monday that he has asked countries including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey to join the Abraham Accords en masse to normalize relations with Israel as part of an agreement with Iran.
Trump said he spoke on Saturday to leaders of those countries, as well as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which have already signed the accords, a set of agreements to normalize relations with Israel.
"I am mandatorily requesting that all Countries immediately sign the Abraham Accords, and that, if Iran signs its Agreement with me, as President of the United States of America, it would be an Honor to have them also be part of this unparalleled World Coalition," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
He cited "all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together."
Trump said those countries would be honored to have Iran as part of the accords once a deal to end the war is reached.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump's post.