China Defends Pakistan by Vetoing Kashmir Bombing Resolution

Nikkei

15 March 2019

China has backed Belt and Road partner Pakistan and earned the global community’s ire by blocking an Indian request to blacklist the leader of a Pakistan-based militant group that claimed responsibility for last month’s suicide bombing in Kashmir.

At a committee meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, China vetoed a resolution to designate Masood Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad, a global terrorist. The resolution was intended to subject the leader of the anti-India Islamist group to a global travel ban, an asset freeze and an arms embargo.

Experts see China’s move as a sign that Beijing is ready to go to any extent to protect a strategic Belt and Road partner.

The attack on Feb. 14 killed at least 40 paramilitary troops. It was the deadliest suicide bombing of Kashmir’s 30-year insurgency and escalated tensions between two nuclear powers.

… “China has blocked resolutions against Masood Azhar in the past,” said James Dorsey, senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “And nothing has changed from its perspective to make a different decision this time.” Dorsey added that when it comes to protecting its strategic interests, China does not worry about how the global community might react.

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RSIS / Online