China and Pakistan are ‘not enemies of US’

Beijing said on Friday that China and Pakistan were not the enemies of the US and stressed that terrorism as well as the coronavirus pandemic were the common enemies to all mankind and required joint efforts to counter them.

Speaking on the 19th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks on the US soil, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that all countries should work together to prevent and fight terrorism and safeguard the world’s peace and stability.

“So on this very special day [9/11 anniversary], I would like to say that we hope the US won’t forget that terrorism and Covid-19 are common enemies to all mankind. China and Pakistan are not the enemies of the US,” Zhao told a regular media briefing.

Opposing attempts to link terrorism to any specific country, Zhao commended Pakistan for making tremendous efforts and sacrifices in fighting this menace and called on the international community to fully recognise and respect such efforts.

“We oppose double standards on counter terrorism and we oppose the attempt to link the terrorism to any specific country,” he said. “The international community should fully recognise and respect Pakistan’s efforts,” Zhao said.

He said that China opposed to all kinds of terrorism and stressed that all countries should engage themselves in the global anti-terrorism cooperation to jointly safeguard the world peace and security on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefits.