BRICS declaration in line with China’s Pakistan policy

ISLAMABAD: China on Wednesday said there was no change in its stance in its support of Pakistan’s stance on counter-terrorism and the joint declaration issued at BRICS summit was almost the same as of the recent summit of Heart of Asia held in Amritsar, India.

A Chinese official privy to the negotiations, held at BRICS summit in Xiamen, told Pakistan Today that China hoped that Pakistan would carry on its counter-terrorism pursuit and China would continue its friendly support to Pakistan.

“We hope that Pakistani side would assess the situation with correct and calm analysis without being influenced by the negative and false propaganda by foreign media.

Contrary to all such claims, Chinese negotiators at the BRICS meeting ensured that the joint declaration of the BRICS is in line with China’s unflinching support to Pakistan’s counter-terrorism efforts,” the official said.

He said, “We have been saying that Pakistan’s security concerns about regional developments should be respected. China opposes all forms of terrorism and advocates for adopting a holistic counter-terrorism strategy that addresses not only the symptoms but also the roots of terrorism,” the official said.

The official added that China opposes double standards on the counterterrorism strategy, adding that terrorism cannot be linked to any specific country, ethnicity or religion.

“The Xiamen Declaration shows the concerns of BRICS countries on the situation developing in Afghanistan. This declaration is about Afghanistan and all the mentioned (banned) organisations are already listed and sanctioned by the United Nations,” the official added.

The official said another fact which needs to be considered is that in last year’s Heart of Asia conference the declaration was issued with same concerns, and Pakistan, being a participant of the military meeting, agreed to it to some extent.

“Pakistan encourages the Afghan peace process and supports peace and stability in the region which is an encouraging sign,” the official added.

The official added that Chinese diplomats foiled Indian bid to target Pakistan at the recently-held summit meeting of BRICS by discarding around “ten pages of demands” which they wanted to be incorporated in the joint declaration; however, the Chinese negotiators cut down those demands to only a few clauses.

The BRICS declaration issued on Monday stated that “we [BRICS countries] strongly condemn terrorist attacks resulting in death to innocent Afghan nationals. There is a need for immediate cessation of violence. We reaffirm our support to the people of Afghanistan in their efforts to achieve “Afghan-led and Afghan-owned” peace and national reconciliation, to the ongoing international efforts, including the Moscow Format of consultations on Afghanistan and “Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process”, as well as multimodal connectivity projects to promote peace and stability, to the fight against terrorism and drug-threat, and to the national

We reaffirm solidarity and resolve in the fight against terrorism, value the 2^nd BRICS Counter-Terrorism Working Group Meeting held in Beijing on 18 May 2017, and agree to strengthen our cooperation.”