AP, Islamabad :Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday applauded Pakistan’s anti-terrorism efforts in a speech to parliament, vowing his nation would continue to stand by its neighbor.Lawmakers gave Xi a standing ovation after his address, aired live on state-run Pakistani TV. Legislators, military leaders and foreign ambassadors all attended the speech.Xi pledged in his speech that China and Pakistan will always move forward together and the Chinese people will always stand together with the Pakistani people.In his own address after Xi, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pledged to strengthen ties between the two countries.”We will fight together to eliminate the menace of terrorism,” he said.Xi arrived Monday to Islamabad on a two-day visit, where he and Sharif oversaw their ministers and other officials signing 51 deals.Xi brought with him investment projects worth $45 billion in energy and infrastructure construction, Pakistani Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said. Up to $37 billion would be spent on Pakistan’s troubled electrical grid, Iqbal said.Of the total investment, Iqbal said, $28 billion projects were ready to be rolled out, while it will take three to five years for rest of them to take start.China and Pakistan long have maintained close political and military relations, based partly on mutual antipathy toward neighbor India. However, stronger China-India ties have challenged that perception and Xi’s visit seems intended to reassure Pakistan.
