BEIJING: China strictly maintained its position on Maulana Masood Azhar during the meeting between Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi and Indian Interior Minister Singh held in New Delhi.
Regarding India’s request of China’s support for listing Masood as a global terrorist at the United Nations (UN), Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a regular press conference on Tuesday that they have repeatedly stated China’s position on this issue.
“China has always actively participated in international anti-terrorism cooperation and at the same time made judgments based on the merits of the matter itself,” she said. “We are willing to continue to strengthen anti-terrorism security cooperation with India and jointly safeguard regional peace and security,” she added.
She also said that China has defended its move to repeatedly block India’s bid to list Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist at the UN and argued that the issue lacks “consensus” among members of the UN Security Council. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that the issue “directly concerns” India and Pakistan.
The spokesperson further said, “On October 22, China and India held the first high-level meeting on law enforcement security jointly signed the Cooperation Agreement between the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of India.”
This agreement is of great significance for advancing the development of China-India relations and enhancing the level of law enforcement security cooperation between the two countries.
At present, China-India relations are developing well. In April this year, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi successfully held an informal meeting in Wuhan.
Strengthening cooperation in the field of law enforcement and security cooperation between the two sides will undoubtedly help to provide a safe and stable environment for the common development and prosperity of the two countries.
According to the published news release, the two sides will focus on counter-terrorism, cracking down on separatist forces, and combating transnational crimes in the future to carry out more pragmatic cooperation to jointly prevent transnational crimes such as separatist forces and counterfeit currency crimes, telecom fraud, and drug crimes. At the same time, it will continue to expand the channels of communication and cooperation between law enforcement agencies of both sides, and effectively protect the safety of other countries’ projects, institutions and personnel in the country.
Regarding India’s request that China not provide asylum to the leaders of the Assam United Liberation Front, the spokesperson emphasised that the Chinese government has consistently adhered to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. This position has not changed and will not change.
