China which is happy to welcome the latest development in India-Pakistan relationship said it would support both countries to enhance mutual trust and have continuous dialogue.

China today said, it “welcomes” Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s surprise Friday visit to Pakistan, saying it would “support” India and Pakistan to “enhance mutual trust” and have “continuous dialogue.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said that China was “happy to see and will support, as always, Pakistan and Indian to enhance mutual trust”, adding that it was a “common neighbour and friend of both Pakistan and India”.

“The Chinese side welcomes the latest development in the Pakistan-India relationship,” Lu said, adding that India and Pakistan were “important countries in south Asia” and that “the improvement of their relationship will be significant to regional peace, stability and development.”

He said China would support efforts of both countries “to achieve common development through continuous dialogue”, in a reference to the recent interruptions in the dialogue process.

The recent improvement in relations has been welcomed in Beijing, which has close ties with its “all weather” strategic ally Islamabad.

“There is no doubt of course China will welcome this development,” said Ma Jiali, a leading South Asia expert at the Communist Party School and China Reform Forum, in an interview to India Today. “China’s attitude towards India and Pakistan is that we would like to see improvement of relations,” he said.

Ma praised the Modi government for its outreach to Pakistan. “Modi wants to improve relations with the neighbours. This is an important step and will improve the environment,” he added. “Till now, India’s regional diplomacy has improved and to some extent India has enhanced relations with all neighbours.”

While Beijing enjoys close relations with Pakistan, China has in recent years sought to strike a better balance in ties with India against the backdrop of rising trade and common concerns with India on issues such as terrorism.

Earlier this month, China for the first time hosted the head of India’s Northern Army Command, with Beijing previously reluctant to engage with the Northern Command citing “sensitivities” on Kashmir.

While China has a stated policy of neutrality on the Kashmir issue, Beijing’s recent moves have suggested otherwise, from issuing stapled visas to Indian residents of J&K and going ahead with an economic corridor project with Pakistan, through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Beijing has since stopped stapled visas for J&K, but is going forward with the corridor.

In October, India and China decided to scale up counter terrorism exercises following drills in China and also discussed holding for the first time joint relief exercises along the Line of Actual Control, sometime next year, to boost trust between the militaries.

And last month, both sides set up a first ministerial mechanism to deal with security issues including cross border terror, when Home Minister Rajnath Singh visited Beijing. A joint committee chaired by the two home ministers will meet annually for the first time to deal with common security challenges including for the first time cross-border terrorism. While China was earlier reluctant to talk terror because of Pakistani sensitivities, Indian officials say they have seen a new approach from Beijing amid rising violence in China’s western Xinjiang region, which has been blamed by Chinese officials on Islamist groups alleged to have ties to certain outfits in Pakistan.