From combined dispatches
BEIJING
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao pledged to help Pakistan overcome its economic troubles, Chinese state media reported Thursday, although details of the assistance were not disclosed.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was expected to seek $500 million or more in soft-term loans from its neighbor as it struggles to come to grips with a financial crisis.
Mr. Wen said the two countries were ready to advance their strategic relationship, a day after Mr. Zardari and China President Hu Jintao signed 11 agreements on trade and economic cooperation.
Mr. Zardari, on his first foreign trip as president, had made clear that commercial ties with China were foremost on the Pakistani delegation’s agenda, according to Xinhua News Agency.
Pakistan is facing a critical shortfall in its balance of payments, along with inflation at close to 25 percent and heavy government borrowing from the central bank to cover a budget deficit.
Analysts think that the central bank’s reserves are barely enough to cover two months of imports and that the country urgently needs $3 billion to $4 billion.
On Thursday, the Pakistani rupee dropped to more than 82 to the dollar, continuing a slide that has seen it lose more than 30 percent of its value this year.
“That Zardari would choose China as his first country to visit as president shows the high emphasis he places on developing friendly, cooperative Sino-Pakistani relations,” Xinhua quoted Mr. Wen as saying.
“Whether it’s confronting the present financial crisis or fighting terrorism, China and Pakistan must strengthen their bilateral cooperation,” he said.
China agreed to provide $500 million in a concessional loan to help Pakistan meet its balance of payment needs in April. Mr. Zardari hopes to secure another concessional loan of $500 million to $1.5 billion, the Financial Times reported.
Mr. Zardari said he wanted to develop the political friendship between the two countries that was already “deeper than the sea,” Xinhua reported.
Mr. Zardari is wooing Beijing at a time when his country’s relations with the United States are strained after U.S. forces in Afghanistan carried out cross-border air raids and at least one ground assault on al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan.
On Thursday, a suspected U.S. missile strike killed a purported foreign militant in a Pakistani tribal area considered a haven for the Taliban and al Qaeda, while a suicide bombing left four security personnel dead, officials said.
The missile strike in South Waziristan hit a house overrun with foreign and Pakistani militants since last year, when its owner fled the remote, forested area considered a likely hiding place for al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri, officials said.
Two Pakistani intelligence officials told the Associated Press that reports from informants and field agents suggested one foreign militant died and another foreigner was injured.
Thursday’s blast wrecked a police station in Swat, a picturesque valley where fighting has raged for more than a year.
Police said insurgents opened fire on their station in Mingora, Swat’s main town, after midnight with guns and rockets before the bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle next to the police compound.
District Police Chief Dilawar Bangash said one officer and three paramilitary troops died and 26 people were injured, many of them seriously.
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