China expresses welcome and appreciation for the India-Pakistan summit and the efforts made by leadership of the two countries to improve bilateral relations, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan in Beijing Monday.  

As friend and neighbor of the two countries, Kong said, China wholeheartedly hopes India and Pakistan can maintain the momentum of detente and make concerted efforts for peace, stability and development in the region.

Such move "first meets the fundamental interests of India and Pakistan and also the expectation of the international community," said Kong.

Earlier Monday, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee held a summit in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan. The closed-door meeting, the first between the two in more than two years, lasted for more than one hour.

On Sunday, Vajpayee held an ice-breaking meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali after the opening of the SAARC summit meeting.

(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2004)