Washington, June 27: Welcoming prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to Pakistan's close ally China, president Pervez Musharraf has said any progress in Sino-India relations will not affect Islamabad's ties with Beijing. China and Pakistan enjoy time-tested and "deep-rooted relationship" which would remain unaffected by any progress in Sino-India relations, he said at a press conference here yesterday. "We welcome the Indian prime minister's visit to Beijing and wish Sino-India relations to expand as these in fact should be in our interest", he said.
Responding to a question, Musharraf said China has all along supported Pakistan's "principled stand" for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue and "we perceive, any progress in these relations may lead to resolutions of the festering problem as China might then be in a position to influence India in the matter".