Pakistan's Zardari arrives in China to cement ties

BEIJING (Reuters) - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in China late on Tuesday for his first official visit since taking office, aiming to cement economic and commercial ties with a long-time ally.

Zardari is expected to sign a range of agreements with Beijing during his four-day visit, which will focus on strengthening strategic, economic and cultural ties between the two nations.

"I'm looking forward to visiting China...I am hoping to remind the leadership of the world how close our relationship is," the official Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted Zardari as saying in an interview on Monday.

He is due to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and other top officials starting from Wednesday.

Zardari's visit comes at a time when its relations with the United States are under stress as U.S. forces in Afghanistan carried out a series of cross-border air raids and at least one ground assault on al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan.

Analysts said that while Pakistan would continue to act as an ally of the United States, Zardari's visit to China demonstrates Islamabad's tendency to "look East" when its ties with the West become strained.

China is Pakistan's main supplier of conventional arms and provides hundreds of millions of dollars of development finance.