China and Pakistan decided on Monday to lift bilateral ties to all-weather strategic partnership of cooperation hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Islamabad for his first state visit.[Special coverage]
The upgrade of bilateral relations came as the two countries were gearing up for an expansion of cooperation in various fields, with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor high on the agenda.
The corridor is a planned network of roads, railways and energy projects linking southwest Pakistan's deepwater Gwadar Port with northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
