“Pakistan is a real friend. That Chinese people are very certain [of].”

This and other similar remarks were recently posted under a Chinese news report on President Arif Alvi’s visit to China.

According to data collected from Jin Ri Toutiao (Headlines Today) and WeChat — two of the most popular news sharing platforms in China — the article titled President of Pakistan Alvi starts his journey to China has received attention from more than 370,000 readers with over 6,000 likes and 1,000 comments.

The event was widely discussed by the people of China that day, with the only other hot topic being the novel coronavirus outbreak, China Economic Net report on Thursday.

According to APP, most readers expressed their gratitude to President Alvi for visiting China at this crucial time.

Here are some of the comments found under the news piece:

“We’d like to express our warmest welcome to President Alvi for coming to China.”

“We cherish the friendship between China and Pakistan that has been passing on to generations and generations. ”

“The concerns of Pakistan are also ours, and vice versa.”

“The iron brothers are united. Through joint efforts, China and Pakistan will defeat the COVID-19, and resume economic development.”

“However the world changes, long live Pak-China friendship!”

Most of the remarks suggested that President Alvi’s visit sparked warm feelings for Pakistan, reflecting the close ties between the two nations throughout history.

During the visit from March 16 to 17, President Alvi held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and witnessed the signing of multiple bilateral cooperation documents.

The president also met Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Chairman, China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, Li Zhanshu during the two-day visit.

The two countries also issued a joint statement on deepening the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.