Beijing reaffirms earlier stance: China blocks India at UNSC

NEW YORK: China blocked on Wednesday India’s bid to designate Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) 1267 list.

China on Wednesday hinted that it may once again block the move, saying only “the solution that is acceptable to all sides” is conducive to resolve the issue.

China put a technical hold on a proposal in the UN Security Council to ban Masood Azhar just before the close of the deadline. The request was moved by Britain, France and the United States, while Germany also joined as co-sponsor of the move on Wednesday.

China has blocked the move by India and others states three times in the past. In a note sent to the Council, China said it needed more time to examine the sanctions request targeting Masood Azhar, diplomats said.

In case of implementation, a UNSC designation would have subject Masood Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. Earlier in the day, China had signalled that it was not yet prepared to step aside and allow the UNSC to list terror the JeM founder as an international terrorist.

In response to a question on China’s stance on banning Masood Azhar at the 1267 committee of the UNSC, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said Beijing wanted a closure of the issue, based on consensus achieved through dialogue. “I want to say that China always adopts a responsible attitude, engage in consultations with various parties and properly deal with this issue,” Lu said.

“The discussions, I want to say must follow the rules and procedures of the relevant bodies and only the solution that is acceptable to all sides is conducive for resolving the issue,” he added.

Lu said the Chinese position on Masood Azhar was delinked from the immediacy of the Wednesday’s vote at the 1267 committee of the UNSC. “First, I want to clarify that I don’t recall saying anything about the deadline about the UNSC committee and other UN subsidiary bodies,” he stated.

India has expressed disappointment in the outcome and said it will continue to pursue “all possible avenues to ensure terrorist leaders are brought to justice”.

“We are disappointed by this outcome. We will continue to pursue all available avenues to ensure that terrorist leaders who are involved in heinous attacks on our citizens are brought to justice,” said the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.

The Indian opposition, particularly the Congress, took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failing at diplomatic levels.

“A sad day in the global fight against terrorism. China blocking Masood Azhar’s designation as global terrorist reaffirms Chinese position of being an inseparable ally of Pakistan. Sadly, Modiji’s foreign policy has been a series of diplomatic disasters,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.