The presidents met on the sidelines of the G20 summit on Saturday.<\/p>\n
By Nandini Krish
September 3, 2016 11:08 BST<\/p>\n
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan have pledged to strengthen ties between the two countries to fight terrorism as they gather in China for the G20 Summit starting on Sunday (4 September).<\/p>\n
Xi told Erdogan that he appreciated Ankara’s emphasis that it would not allow its country to take any actions that would affect China’s security. The presidents met on the sidelines of the economic summit on Saturday.<\/p>\n
China “hopes both sides can achieve even more substantive results in counter-terrorism cooperation”,Reuters quoted <\/a>Xi as saying. China is Turkey’s third-largest trading partner.<\/p>\n Erdogan said: “Fighting terrorism is a long-term issue, and is also a long-term topic discussed by the G20.” He insisted on boosting ties with his Chinese counterpart and thanked Beijing for its support in upholding Ankara’s security and stability.<\/p>\n Turkey and China are reported to have set aside their differences for the weekend summit as they had fallen out in the past over China’s alleged handling of Muslim minorities of Uighur who regard themselves as culturally and ethnically related to Turkey.<\/p>\n Discord between indigenous Uighurs community in China and the authorities have had a long history. The ethnic minorities are said to be mostly the followers of Islam religion \u2013 largest group of Muslims in China – and speak a language that is close to Turkish.<\/p>\n