by Kedar Man Singh

KATHMANDU, Dec 5 (AFP) - President Jiang Zemin of China ended his Asian tour in Nepal on Thursday by thanking the Himalayan kingdom's monarch for his support for China's stand on Tibet.

Jiang flew out over Mount Everest to return to Beijing at the end of the tour which also took him to the Philippines, India and Pakistan.

Each stage saw potentially troublesome ties boosted. And China's official Xinhua news agency emphasised how during the eight day tour, Jiang "repeatedly stressed that the Chinese government and people stand ready to join hands with their counterparts in other countries to establish and solidify friendly cooperative relationship."

The president said in a final message to King Birendra: "Our visit to your country will help further consolidate China and Nepal's traditional friendly relations and it will help for better understanding and bilateral cooperation."

The king and virtually the entire government went to Kathmandu airport to see off the most senior leader to come from the powerful neighbour.

The Nepalese authorities laid on special security to head off protests by the 25,000 Tibetan refugees in Kathmandu. There were noisy demonstrations by Tibetans in India during the Chinese leader's stay there.

The situation in the autonomous region where China has embarked on clampdown on supporters of the Dalai Lama was discussed during Jiang's talks with Nepalese leaders, a Chinese diplomatic source said.

He thanked King Birendra "for Nepal's strong support for China's stand on the issues of Tibet and Taiwan," the source said.

The visit is expected to result in the start of projects such as the construction of mountain highway links with Tibet.

The building of the 114-kilometre (72-mile) Kathmandu-Kodari highway a link to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, in the late 1960s by China was seen by New Delhi as a threat to India's security.

The atmosphere is seen as less tense now, however, Nepalese sources said.

They also exchanged views on bilateral interests, world political development, China's relations with India and Pakistan, the Chinese diplomatic source said.

During the talks Jiang described Sino-Nepalese relations as being based on "equal treatment, friendly trust, mutual support and genuine cooperation".

The president was accompanied by Foreign Minister and Vice Premier Qian Qichen and Foreign Trade Minister Wu Yi.

Jiang also met Nepal's Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and the head of the main communist opposition party, Mana Mohan Adhikari.

On the last day of the Chinese president's visit to Pakistan, a bomb exploded in Lahore while Jiang was staying there.

But Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Shen Guofeng, said the bomb was not linked to the visit.

Shen told journalists late Wednesday: "The Lahore bomb blast was not directed against China and it has nothing to do with us."

He added: "We don't know who is responsible for the bomb blast but we feel sure that it has nothing to do with China".

Another bomb went off Wednesday in Karachi, after Jiang's departure.