China indicates it won't budge on Masood Azhar issue
BEIJING: China indicated on Friday that there will be no change in its stance on Masood Azhar , head of terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed , even after the United Nations Security Council condemning the Pulwama attack.
Beijing’s adamance will weigh in on the proceedings of the meeting of the Russia-India-China (RIC) club in the Chinese city of Wuzhen on February 27.
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj will meet her Chinese and Russian counterparts, Wang Yi and Sergei Lavrov, respectively, at the meeting.
In its statement, the UN body said, “The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir, which left 40 Indian paramilitary forces dead and dozens wounded on February 14, 2019, for which Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility.”
For China, the statement did not signal any expectation from the UN body about its behaviour. The Chinese foreign ministry said it had mentioned a particular organisation in “general terms”.
In its statement, the UN body said, “The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir, which left 40 Indian paramilitary forces dead and dozens wounded on February 14, 2019, for which Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility.”
For China, the statement did not signal any expectation from the UN body about its behaviour. The Chinese foreign ministry said it had mentioned a particular organisation in “general terms”.
“Yesterday, the UN Security Council issued a press statement that mentioned a particular organisation but only in general terms. It does not represent a judgment on the attack,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.
Geng also indicated that China was not convinced about who conducted the attack although Jaish-e-Mohammed had itself claimed responsibility. “China hopes all parties will work to find the truth about this attack. We hope Pakistan and India will engage in dialogue to jointly safeguard regional peace and stability,” he said.
The Chinese response would be reassuring to Pakistan because it shows China’s determination to block any future UN move to declare Azhar a global terrorist.
Swaraj is expected to raise the issue at the RIC meeting and do her best to persuade Russia to back India’s case.
Russia has not given any indication that it goes along with India on the Azhar issue. Moscow often follows Beijing’s lead in international affairs because it is heavily dependent on China for financial reasons. China has blocked Indian attempts on the Azhar issue at the UN Security Council several times.
India expects support from other UNSC permanent members, including the US and France.
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