Pak FM Bilawal to travel to China and Japan to boost bilateral ties

Japan is a key development partner of Pakistan and the foreign ministers visit would likely further deepen the cooperation, it said.Pakistan has tried to maintain a fine balance while pursuing ties with its all-weather ally China and its rival Japan.Tokyo has old ties with Islamabad and supported the country financially.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will embark on a two-nation visit to China and Japan from June 27 to deepen bilateral cooperation.

He will travel to China in the last week of June to attend the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the World Economic Forum's (WEF) ''Summer Davos'', to be held from June 27 to June 29 in China's Tianjin Municipality, official sources told The Express Tribune newspaper on Wednesday.

Bilawal will also undertake a maiden visit to Japan in the first week of July. Japan is a key development partner of Pakistan and the foreign minister's visit would likely further deepen the cooperation, it said.

Pakistan has tried to maintain a fine balance while pursuing ties with its all-weather ally China and its rival Japan.

Tokyo has old ties with Islamabad and supported the country financially. But in the preceding years, Japan's relationship has grown exponentially with India while Pakistan found greater comfort in the arms of China.

It is believed that Bilawal's visit to Japan would help to maintain the balance in ties with Beijing and Tokyo.