Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Pakistan on Monday and Tuesday, which will be his first trip to the South Asian country since he assumed the presidency in 2013.
China and Pakistan have long been "iron friends" and all-weather partners of strategic cooperation, Xi said when meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif last year in Beijing.
A recent online survey, jointly conducted by Xinhua, Pakistani online magazine Youlin and China's Tencent News in both countries, shows that netizens of both countries share a similar view on the bilateral ties as "iron friends" was the first phrase that surfaced in their minds when China-Pakistan relationship was mentioned.
In Chinese, the phrase "iron friends" means trustworthy friends whose friendship is as solid as iron.
STRONG PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR CHINA-PAKISTAN TIES
According to the survey launched online on April 12, as of Thursday, 89 percent of Chinese netizens and 90 percent of Pakistanis surveyed chose "iron brothers" to describe the China-Pakistan relations.
The two neighbors maintain a traditional friendship and have always supported each other's core interests. Since the establishment of their diplomatic ties in May 1951, they have developed an all-weather friendship and conducted comprehensive cooperation.
The China-Pakistan friendship enjoys a solid public foundation as the two peoples treat each other as "iron brothers." As Chairman of Pakistan's Senate Defense Committee Mushahid Hussain put it, people from all walks of life in Pakistan, regardless of age or sex, have deep friendly feelings toward China.
In China, people have coined a special term for Pakistan -- "Iron Pak" to express their great feelings toward Pakistan, meaning Pakistan is an "iron friend" of China.
The China-Pakistan friendship has stood the test of time. According to the survey, 73 percent of Chinese netizens and 63 percent of Pakistani netizens believe the bilateral ties are a vivid embodiment of the saying "A friend in need is a friend indeed."
Just days ago, China helped evacuate 176 Pakistani nationals safely from war-torn Yemen, which was applauded by the Pakistani government and its people. The South Asian country also helped eight Chinese students leave Yemen.
Looking back to 2008, when Wenchuan city in China's southwest Sichuan province was hit by a massive earthquake, Pakistan immediately donated all of its tents in reserve to China.
In 2010, when torrential floods devastated one-fifth of Pakistan's total land, China was the first country to help Pakistan with cash, food, medicines, tents and also by sending medical and rescue teams.
GREAT POTENTIAL IN FUTURE COOPERATION
Economic and trade cooperation was rated above political security cooperation and cultural exchanges in the survey either in China or in Pakistan, enjoying 55 percent of support among netizens.
As time goes by, the focus of China-Pakistan ties has been shifted from political security cooperation to economic cooperation, with the latter being regarded as a powerful impetus to the China-Pakistan friendship and comprehensive collaboration.
Currently, the planned China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is high on the agenda of bilateral cooperation.
The landmark initiative to implement the consensus of "a community of shared destiny" will connect Kashgar in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with Gwadar Port in Pakistan, setting a strategic framework for pragmatic cooperation between the two countries and bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples.
Xi and his Pakistani counterpart Mamnoon Hussain pledged to forge a China-Pakistan "community of shared destiny" in February 2014.
China and Pakistan are as close as lips and teeth for they share same mountains and waters. The China-Pakistan brotherhood is rock-firm and has grown from strength to strength in the course of time, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in February during his visit to Islamabad.
In the above-mentioned survey, 92 percent of Pakistani netizens said the iron brotherhood between China and Pakistan will never go rusty. Xi's upcoming visit will lift the China-Pakistan strategic cooperative partnership to a new level.
