Sha Zukang, former UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, is elected as the president of the newly inauguated Council of China-Pakistan Friendship Association in Beijing on April 16 (ZHANG PENG)

The 2014-2019 Council of the China-Pakistan Friendship Association (CPFA) was inaugurated in Beijing on April 16. Sha Zukang, former UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, was elected as its president.

"The CPFA has been working hard to enable the common people of both countries to benefit from the high-level political mutual trust that exists between China and Pakistan," Sha said.

As an important organization engaged in people-to-people friendship between China and Pakistan, the CPFA has conducted various activities to enhance mutual understanding since its establishment in 1956 after China and Pakistan established diplomatic relations in 1951.

"The permanent strength of our relationship has been highlighted by the visible increase in high-level political exchanges between our two countries since both Pakistan and China saw new governments come into office last year," said Pakistan Ambassador to China Masood Khalid, who delivered a keynote speech in the inauguration.

In February, Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain paid a state visit to China, his first official foreign trip since taking office. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Pakistani counterpart urged both sides to speed up work on the construction of a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The project connecting Kashgar in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to the southwestern Pakistani port of Gwadar was proposed in an agreement between the two countries reached during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Pakistan in May 2013.

"If the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor symbolizes the substantive or 'hard power' of our friendship, the China-Pakistan Friendship Association can be the most potent symbol of its 'soft power'," said the Ambassador Masood Khalid. "It is vital that 'soft power' underpins 'hard power.' This is how I see the CPFA's role," he added.

The ambassador suggests that the CPFA act as a meeting point for the two countries, two peoples and cultures. It can bring artists and intellectuals, scholars and students, leaders and lawmakers, businessmen, government officials and diplomats together on one platform.

The people-to-people exchange between the two countries dates back to two thousand years ago. Venerated Chinese monks Fa Xian of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420 A.D.) and Xuan Zang of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) went to Pakistan to seek Buddhism scriptures and give lectures successively.

"Their stories have been widely told and have become legacies of the history of friendly exchanges between the two countries," Sha said.