Chinese President Xi Jinping meets Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, November 2, 2018.
China promised to support Pakistan's economy on Friday as new Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan told of his country's "very difficult" economic situation amid a burgeoning financial crisis.
Pakistan's foreign reserves have plunged 42 percent since the start of the year and now stand at about $8 billion, or less than two months of import cover.
Last month, Pakistan received a $6 billion rescue package from Saudi Arabia, but officials say it is not enough and the country still plans to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avert a balance of payments crisis.
It would be Pakistan's 13th rescue package from the multilateral lender since the late 1980s.
Religious groups are calling for nationwide strikes on Friday against the acquittal of a Christian woman on blasphemy charges as talks between the government and protesters faltered late Thursday night.Allama Khadim Hussain Rizvi, firebrand head of the newly emerged Sunni group Tehreek e Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), announced the failure of talks in a late-night tweet calling on his followers "to get ready for martyrdom.""Our talks with the government have completely failed. There will be a wheel-jam strike in the country on Friday," the wheelchair-bound Hussain, who is leading a sit-in in the capital Islamabad, said in a tweet.Pakistan: Acquittal of Christian woman protestedAccording to Hussain, the government side that held talks with the protesters also included a senior official of the country's prime spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence.However, there was no official word on the failure of talks as otherwise frenzied TV coverage did not air the protests following government orders in an attempt to cool down mounting tensions.On Thursday thousands blocked roads across Pakistan to protest the Supreme Court acquittal of Aasia Bibi, who was sentenced to death by a district court in 2010 for blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad.In Pakistan, blaspheming Islam or Muhammad is a criminal offense that can carry the death penalty. While the state has never executed anyone under the law, mere allegations have stirred mass protests and violence.Video: Protest erupts after Pakistani court acquits Christian woman of blasphemy
Pakistan: Talks falter, more Aasia Bibi protests loom
Meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Khan said he'd come to China to learn.
"My party has only been in power for two months. Unfortunately we have inherited a very difficult economic situation," Khan said.
"Countries go in cycles. They have their high points, they have their low points. Unfortunately, our country is going through a low point at the moment with two very big deficits, a fiscal deficit and a current account deficit. And so we, as I’ve said, have come to learn."
Xi told Khan that he highly valued the two country's relations, reaffirming they were "all-weather" friends.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan held bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.
Imran Khan meets China's Xi in first official visit to Beijing
"I attach great importance to China-Pakistan relations and am willing to work together with the prime minister to strengthen the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic partnership and build a new era of China-Pakistan destiny," Xi said.
Neither man mentioned any economic aid in comments made in front of reporters.
However, the Chinese government's top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, told Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a separate meeting that China would not let Pakistan down.
"The Chinese side will continue to provide support and help to the best of its ability for Pakistan's economic and social development and national construction," China's Foreign Ministry cited Wang as saying, without giving details.
Khan will meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Saturday, when the two countries are expected to sign a series of agreements.
Though China is Pakistan's closest ally, Khan's newly elected government has sought to re-think the two countries' signature project, the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which Beijing touts as the flagship infrastructure programme in its vast Belt and Road Initiative.
Pakistan has sought to amend CPEC to put greater emphasis on projects that focus on social development, rather than purely on infrastructure.
After visiting Beijing, Khan is set to be a key note speaker at a major import fair in Shanghai, an event being touted by China as an opportunity to show the world the country welcomes foreign companies and their products.
Khan is in China amid unrest at home over the acquittal of a Pakistani Christian woman on death row for blasphemy, which has prompted an ultra-Islamist party to block roads in protest.