[Dawn] Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao...Wen has a professional background in geology and engineering. Unlike most American politicians, he actually knows things. ...
assured his Pak counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ...
of China's "all-weather friendship" on Wednesday, at the start of a visit that sharply contrasts with the intense strain at present between Washington and Islamabad.
"I wish to stress here that no matter what changes might take place in the international landscape, China and Pakistain will remain forever good neighbours, good friends, good partners and good brothers," Wen told Gilani, according to a pool report.
"I do believe that this visit will give a strong boost to the friendship and cooperation between our two countries and take that friendship and cooperation to a new high," he added, during a meeting in central Beijing's Great Hall of the People.
Gilani's four-day trip to China began on Tuesday to mark 60 years of diplomatic ties, but has also given the neighbours a chance to display their steadfast friendship, which stands at odds with US anger at Pakistain's inability to catch the late Osama bin Laden.
... who sleeps with the fishes...
"I would like to thank your Excellency for the warm welcome and hospitality accorded to me and my delegation since our arrival in China," Gilani told Wen.
Pakistain's brittle relationship with the United States, its major donor, was intensely strained after US forces on May 2 killed bin Laden, the world's most wanted man, in Pakistain. He appears to have hidden there for years, prompting anger and questions in Washington about why he was not found sooner.
"ALL-WEATHER FRIENDS"
China and Pakistain praise each other as "all-weather friends" and their close ties reflect long-standing shared wariness of their common neighbour, India, and a desire to hedge against US influence across the region.
On Wednesday, official Chinese media kept up that theme.
"Currently, China and Pakistain both regard each other as diplomatic cornerstones and important backers," said a commentary in the overseas edition of the People's Daily, China's main government newspaper.
Beijing's support for Pakistain reflects its worries about instability spilling into its own western regions, especially heavily Mohammedan Xinjiang.
Just a word of advice: Don't go loaning them the national lawn mower. You won't get it back.
But the mutual vows of Sino-Pak friendship only go so far in balancing US influence, several analysts told Rooters.
Pakistain's government and military are too reliant on US security and economic aid to risk that alliance.
Nor does Beijing want to risk deep entanglement in volatile Pak politics, risking its own interests and alienating India, a big but wary trade partner.
"Pakistain has high hopes for China, because its relations with the United States are so tense," said Hu Shisheng, an expert on South Asia at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, a think tank in Beijing.
"But nonetheless the US-Pak anti-terror alliance isn't going to rupture."