Beijing: Shehbaz Sharif has become the new PM in place of Imran Khan in Pakistan. China, which supported Pakistan against India, on Thursday described Pakistan as its best friend. The Chinese Foreign Ministry, while talking to Pakistan's new PM Shehbaz Sharif, has said that it will always keep Pakistan on priority in terms of its neighbour diplomacy.

China has praised Shehbaz Sharif and termed him a better prime minister than Imran. In fact, behind this praise lies China's own advantages. China believes that during Imran Khan's tenure, the work of its ambitious project China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has taken place at a very slow pace. But, now after Shehbaz became the PM, China hopes that the work on this corridor will be expedited. Last Tuesday, Shehbaz had a meeting with Pang Chunxu, in charge of the Chinese embassy, at his office.

During the meeting, PM Sharif said that the present government of Pakistan attaches more importance to developing relations with China and is ready to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in agriculture, science and technology, education and eradicating poverty. Shahbaz Sharif said, "His government will take forward the construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with more strength and efficiency.''

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