China welcomes the United States to play a "positive" role in promoting the improvement of India-Pakistan relations, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao Tuesday.

Liu made the remarks in response to a reporter's question concerning U.S. President George W. Bush's forthcoming visit to Pakistan and India.

He said China welcomes the United States to develop friendly ties with India and Pakistan, adding he hopes such bilateral relations would be "conducive to peace, stability and development of the whole Asia."

Both India and Pakistan are China's important friendly neighbors, he noted. China is glad to see and satisfied with its relations with the two countries, which have seen continuous growth in recent years, Liu said.

"Meanwhile, we also noticed that India and Pakistan have been improving and developing their ties over the years." the spokesman said. Although some problems are yet to be solved between the two sides, China hopes they could maintain the momentum of improving bilateral ties and promote progress on divergent issues, he said.

Source: Xinhua