Musharraf suggested during his talks with Hu in Sanya that a railway along the Karakoram Highway linking Gwadar port with China be built.

Musharraf also proposed building an oil and gas pipeline to offer a short cut for China's energy supplies from the Gulf, which are now shipped along India and through the Malacca Straits.

"If we can supplement this (the Karakoram Highway) with a rail link, and also maybe an oil and gas pipeline link; and then you take the Central Asian republics with that, the whole area will open out through Pakistan to the rest of the world," he said.

"So my thoughts are that we should now be thinking bigger, beyond bilateral or the region."