BEIJING: China on Tuesday opposed the use of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to put political pressure on Pakistan and once again supported Pakistan’s anti-terror financing efforts.
“We also oppose the use of FATF as a political measure to put pressure on Pakistan,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said during a press briefing.
Responding to a question whether China is not entirely sure of Pakistan’s efforts in combating terrorist financing, the spokesperson repeated that as an all-weather strategic partner, China and Pakistan will continue to enhance coordination and cooperation on counterterrorism.
Some international media reports had earlier suggested that China this time around refused to bail out Pakistan at the FATF meeting. However, the spokesperson said both countries have a very strong relationship.
The spokesperson asserted that all parties should objectively and fairly consider Pakistan’s anti-terrorism efforts instead of simply blaming the country.
“In recent years, Pakistan has actively taken a series of measures to strengthen financial regulations and crackdown on terrorist financing and made important progress,” he added.
Shuang said, “The Pakistani government and people have made tremendous efforts and made great sacrifices for the international anti-terrorism cause.”
Earlier on February 28, after a week of perpetual uncertainty regarding Pakistan’s placement on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list pertaining to terror financing and money laundering, Foreign Office Spokesperson Muhammad Faisal confirmed that the country will be added to the watchlist in June.
Speaking at a weekly news briefing, Dr Faisal revealed that a decision to place Pakistan on the watchlist was taken at the FATF plenary session held in Paris.
After tensions between Pakistan and the US escalated over former’s inaction against terror networks, Washington persuaded member states of the FATF to place Pakistan back on the “grey list” of nations with inadequate terrorist financing or money laundering controls. Pakistan was on the list for three years from 2012.
The meeting of the FATF that convened on Feb 23 gave rise to confusion regarding Pakistan’s status after several foreign reported that Pakistan is being placed on the list, prior to the meeting’s conclusion; however, the FATF spokesperson denied these reports.
Moreover, Pakistan was absent from the statements issued in the aftermath of the meeting, as a result, several heaved a sigh of relief. However, the second vote called by the US dashed these hopes as the meeting agreed to place Pakistan on the list with the allies, China and Saudi Arabia, supporting the motion–backtracking from their earlier stance.
Take over FIF & deport Afghan refugees.
What China is doing is supporting pakistan for political purposes despite pakistan exporting terrorism. So, it is not FATF which is putting political pressure but It is China which is shamelessly puttting political pressure on FATF for a terrorist state. So no truth in what china says.
You are terror incarnate you blabbering fool
It’s obvious why China opposes political pressure – it wants to safeguard its CPEC investments. China knows that CPEC, financed with Chinese bank loans at exorbitant interest rates, will be a cash cow for China for a long time.
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