Pakistan and China are staging joint military exercises, showcasing
their relationship as Islamabad's ties with Washington suffer.
The
war games that began Monday follow remarks by Pakistani officials
suggesting that China could step into the economic, military and
diplomatic void if Pakistan's relationship with the United States
collapsed.
An army statement says the exercise in Punjab province
showed that the "Pakistan-China friendship is higher than the mountains
and deeper than oceans."
It was the fourth military exercise between the two nations since 2004.
Washington
has courted Pakistan's army since 2001, but the raid on Osama bin Laden
in May and disagreements over Afghanistan have poisoned the
relationship over the last 1 1/2 years. AP
