Decision taken on merits of case: China

China on Thursday said its decision to repeatedly reject resolutions at the UN to sanction Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar wasn’t based on “political considerations” and was taken on the merits of the case.

India on Wednesday had sharply criticised China for apparently shielding Azhar at the UN Security Council. India’s permanent representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said that “on counter-terrorism, cooperation continues to elude the council, as it falls victim to narrow political and strategic concerns”. China’s ministry of foreign affairs dismissed India’s argument.

“You have mentioned the narrow political consideration but we think we have acted in a candid way with ease. We have nothing to do with narrow-minded political consideration,” foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Thursday. “We should say that we firmly crackdown on various forms of international terrorism and on this issue we make our own judgements based on the merits of the matter. Like we said, the relevant move in the committee accords with the rules of the procedure of the committee and we will work with various parties to uphold the security and peace of the international community.”

China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UNSC, has repeatedly blocked moves to sanction Azhar under the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee over the past one year. Beijing flatly denies that its close ties with Pakistan is the reason for blocking the move, stating that it has more to do with the process of collecting “solid evidence” against the alleged terrorist.

In November, Beijing cited “lack of consensus” among UN Security Council members on sanctioning Azhar under a US-backed resolution.

Signalling its intention to block the resolution, China had said that the UN committee “is yet to reach an agreement” on the move.

BEIJING: