BEIJING – China on Monday welcomed the joint participation of Pakistan andIndia in “Peace Mission” anti-terrorism exercise held in Russia under theShanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) framework.

“We welcome the joint participation of India and Pakistan in theanti-terrorism exercise under theSCO framework,” Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesperson Hua Chunying saidduring her regular press briefing held here.

She said both India and Pakistan were important countries in South Asia andadded, the stability of India-Pakistan relations was of great significanceto regional peace and stability and even world peace and development.

“We sincerely hope that India and Pakistan will strengthen bilateral anddialogue and cooperation within multilateral mechanisms such as the SCO,improve relations and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability,” sheadded.

It may be mentioned that on August 24, India and Pakistan participated forthe first time in the2018 SCO “Peace Mission” anti-terrorism exercise held in Russia. APP