Pakistan’s Online News Network cited well-placed sources as saying that Jiechi and Zardari were initially scheduled to meet in Islamabad.

However, Zardari later sought a meeting with the Chinese delegation in Karachi ‘due to his demanding engagements in the provincial as well as financial capital of the country’.

“However, the delegation expressed its inability to travel to Karachi to meet the President and insisted on the venue and time earlier finalised,” the sources added.

The Pakistan president was then forced to rush back to Islamabad “for the convenience of the high-value guests and expressing level of commitment Pakistan attaches to the neighbouring friendly country”, the Online news reported.

When the agency sought a clarification on the issue from Zardari’s spokesman, it got a SMS reply: “The meeting was scheduled in Islamabad.”