Middle East ceasefire is a 'priority', China's FM tells Pakistan
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s statement comes as the US begins a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz despite a 14-day ceasefire.
Maintaining a ceasefire in the Middle East war is an "immediate priority" for resolving the conflict, China's top diplomat told his Pakistan counterpart.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also said that the ceasefire between the United States and Iran was "holding" and that efforts were underway to reach an agreement after talks in Islamabad at the weekend failed to do so.
"The immediate priority is to make every effort towards preventing the resumption of hostilities and to maintain the hard-won ceasefire momentum," Wang Yi told Pakistan's Ishaq Dar, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement on Monday.
Wang said a joint peace plan by China and Pakistan announced last month, as the two officials met in Beijing, "still can serve as a direction for efforts towards a resolution".
China’s top diplomat also said that the international community should take a "clear stand" against actions undermining the current US-Iran ceasefire, even as a US blockade of the critical Strait of Hormuz began.
"The international community should continue to step up efforts to promote peace talks and take a clear stand against any actions that undermine the ceasefire or escalate confrontation," Wang told his Pakistani counterpart, according to the state-run Global Times.
‘Steadfast commitment’
Dar – on the heels of weekend talks in Pakistan between Iran and the US – reiterated Islamabad’s "steadfast commitment" to advancing dialogue and diplomacy as the preferred means of restoring peace in the region, stressing that they are "the only viable path forward," according to a statement from Pakistan's Foreign Ministry.
The remarks came as a US blockade on Iranian ports took effect at 1400GMT on Monday, according to a British maritime intelligence report.
Following joint diplomatic efforts with Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, Pakistan on April 8, secured a 14-day ceasefire between Washington and Tehran after weeks of fighting triggered by US-Israel attacks on February 28.
However, 16 hours of marathon negotiations between the US and Iran held in Pakistan over the weekend ended without a breakthrough.