ONBOARD SPECIAL AIRCRAFT, Feb 24: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Thursday described his visit to China as very important and said his ‘substantive and positive’ interaction with the Chinese leadership would boost ties in political, economic and defence fields. “The visit is very important in terms of timings and substance in the wake of changing strategic situation in the world,” he told journalists while flying back home after a five-day state visit to China.

President Musharraf said he had substantive interaction with the Chinese leadership that covered all areas including political, economic, diplomacy, defence, continuing cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and regional and international issues.

“There was a complete understanding on all issues we discussed,” he said while referring to his one-on-one meeting with President Hu Jintao.

President Musharraf said he had a ‘detailed and open’ discussion with the Chinese leadership on all issues and added the visit would further strengthen the strategic ties between the two time-tested friends.

Answering a question, he said Pakistan and China had always been collaborating in the defence field. “Defence relations have been the bedrock of Sino-Pakistan relations,” he added.

China, he added, had been offering a lot of transfer of technology “because of which collaboration has been going on for decades”. In this respect, the President referred to the China’s support at a time when Pakistan was under sanctions and looking for indigenization and diversifying the source of supply.

“On the whole, on the defence side there has been a substantial forward movement,” he said in a reference to broad-based talks with the Chinese leadership.

He described the joint production of JF-17 Thunder as a great success.

The president said the JF 17 fighter plane was high-tech and could be compared favourably with F-16s in terms of its platform engine, manoeuvrability, avionics and capability of carrying various modern weapon systems.—APP