Washington/Beijing: Virtually calling China a terrorism supporter, the US indicated that members of the UN Security Council may need to consider “other actions” if Beijing continued to prevent the sanctions committee from designating Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist. A day after Beijing used its veto to stall the sanctions committee’s near-unanimous decision to designate Azhar a terrorist, a Security Council diplomat said China should not prevent the UN panel from doing the job the council has entrusted it to do, and Beijing’s move to hold the listing was 'inconsistent with its own stated goals of combating terrorism and furthering regional stability in South Asia.”
“If China is serious about these goals, it should not protect terrorists from Pakistan or any other country from being held accountable to the council,” said the diplomat. The diplomat warned, “If China continues to block this designation, responsible member states may be forced to pursue other actions at the Security Council. It shouldn’t have to come to that.”
Needs more time to find lasting solution: China
Defending its actions, China said the UNSC committee needed more time to find a “lasting solution” on the matter. Chinese spokesperson Lu Kang said, “Only a solution that is acceptable to all sides can fundamentally provide a chance for a lasting solution to the issue. China is ready to communicate and coordinate with all sides, including India to properly handle this issue.”
Even as the US made plain its unhappiness over the Azhar block, there was more stormy weather on the US-China front over a state department report indicting China for “record level” human rights violations, a charge that Beijing rejected as “ideological prejudice”. China counterattacked and said, “We also advise that the United States take a hard look at its own domestic human rights record, and first take care of its own affairs.”
In Washington, the diplomat did not elaborate on what “other actions” were being contemplated by member states but considering the move to designate Azhar a global terrorist has near-unanimous support, it is conceivable that the matter may be bumped up to the Security Council itself, where an isolated China could be called on to explain itself before the world.
Four of five permanent UNSC members - US, UK, France, and Russia - back the move to designate Azhar a global terrorist, with China the lone holdout. “One big state holds up, again... one small signal at UN against terror. Grateful to the many states - big and small - who in unprecedented numbers joined as co-sponsors of the effort,” India’s envoy to the UN Syed Akbaruddin tweeted after China foiled India's bid to declare Azar as a global terrorist for the fourth time.
