BEIJING, 25 March 2003 — Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao voiced strong opposition to the US-led war against Iraq and called for an end to hostilities.

During the talks here yesterday Jamali and Wen also discussed bilateral issues.

Wen called for an end to the war as soon as possible, and a return to the path of a political solution to the Iraq issue within the framework of the United Nations, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Jamali said: “Pakistan...of course our policy is very clear that Pakistan would not support war against Iraq and the policy continues.”

Jamali, in China for the first time since he was sworn in as prime minister in November, met new Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday at the start of a three-day visit.

Jamali, who is due to leave China on Wednesday, canceled a scheduled trip to the United States this week in the face of bitter public opposition in Pakistan to the conflict. Jamali was the first foreign dignitary to visit China since a new generation of leaders were installed in top government posts at a two-week meeting of China’s Parliament that ended last week.

Wen said Jamali’s visit showed the importance of relations between the two allies. “The Chinese government and the Chinese people want to express our warm welcome to you and your colleagues,” he said.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid had said on Sunday Jamali’s visit reflected the close relations “we have with China.”

Pakistan, a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, consulted veto-wielding China last month when US-led coalition threatened to invade Iraq to force it to disarm.

Both countries had called for UN weapons inspectors to be given more time to determine Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.

Besides regional and international issues, the agenda of the talks may include Chinese cooperation in developing the Gwadar sea port, hydropower and petroleum projects, modernizing Pakistan’s railways and bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector.

China has invested nearly two billion dollars in Pakistani public sector projects over the past two years.

Talking to reporters Jamali said he did not think Osama Bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan. Asked if Bin Laden was in Pakistan, Jamali said: “No, I don’t think so.”

The Asian Wall Street Journal yesterday published comments by President Pervez Musharraf in which he said it was possible that Bin Laden was alive and living in Pakistan across the Afghan border.

Some 200,000 people demonstrated in the eastern city of Lahore on Sunday in Pakistan’s biggest protest against the war to date.