China seeks 'friendly' talks with Pakistan to free its national

BEIJING: China today said it looks forward to addressing the detention of its national for alleged desecration of the holy Quran in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir through "friendly consultations" with the Pakistan government.

"We have taken note of relevant reports," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a media briefing here.

He was replying to a question about a Chinese national working for a consortium building a dam in PoK taken into protective custody after he was attacked by a local crowd alleging that he desecrated the holy book.

"China and Pakistan are friendly neighbours and we believe relevant incident can be properly addressed through friendly consultations," Hong said.

"The Chinese government always asks its nationals to abide by local laws and regulations and respect local religious beliefs and customs as well as culture," he said referring to the incident.

The incident took place ahead of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Islamabad on May 22.