New Delhi, Sept 08: Pakistan has made great sacrifices in fighting terror and has a clear conscience, China said on Friday, barely five days after
in condemning the terror groups operating from that country.
China’s message of support for its “iron friend” came during a joint press conference foreign minister Wang Yi addressed with his visiting Pakistani counterpart Khawaja Muhammad Asif.
“The government and people of Pakistan made huge efforts and sacrifice on the fight against terrorism… The international community should recognise that,” Wang said.
Terrorism was a global problem that required concerted efforts. Some countries needed to give Pakistan full credit that it deserved, he said.
“Instead of blaming each other, countries need to work with each other,” Wang said, in a comment seen as aimed at India, which has highlighted its concerns over cross-border terrorism at various global forums.
The response could be retort to the US as well, which has blamed Pakistan for not doing enough to tackle terrorism. Describing Pakistan as a victim of terror, the Chinese minister said Pakistan was an important part of international cooperation against terrorism.
“When it comes to counterterrorism, we believe Pakistan has done its best with a clear conscience” Wang said, virtually going back on the Brics statement that said those committing or supporting terror acts must be held accountable.
“Pakistan is a good brother and iron friend of China. No one knows Pakistan and understands Pakistan better than China,” he said.
In what was described as a diplomatic win for India, leaders of the five Brics countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — who met for a summit in China’s coastal city of Xiamen on September 5, identified Pakistan-based terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed among groups causing violence and security concerns.
The statement was seen as a big concession by China, which has blocked India’s efforts to get Jaish chief Masood Azhar designated a terrorist by the UN.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the Xiamen summit that came a week after India and China ended a prolonged border standoff, their longest ever, in Doklam plateau close to Sikkim.
Rejecting the Brics statement, Pakistan had said it was not providing safe havens to terror outfits, as Chinese experts said Beijing made a mistake by including Pakistan and Afghanistan-based outfits in the Xiamen declaration.
Two days after the summit, China invited Pakistan’s foreign minister for talks even as Asif acknowledged the need to restrict the activities of groups such as Lashkar and Jaish.
Pakistan is also crucial to China’s ambitious new Silk Route plan. The centrepiece of the One Belt, One Road initiative, the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, runs through Pakistan.
“Grateful to China for its unflinching support to Pakistan on its support to the fight against terrorism,” Asif said, adding his country’s shared Beijing’s concerns on terrorism and separatism.
The East Turkestan Islamic Movement, blamed by China for fomenting terrorism in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, was a threat, he said.
Describing CPEC as a “new dimension” of cooperation, Asif said the country would “respond to any threat to the corridor.
A cluster of road, rail and energy projects, CPEC will connect Pakistan’s southern Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea and Kashgar in China’s west.
China about-turn: Pak made sacrifices in fighting terror, has ‘clear conscience’
