HIGHLIGHTS
- Several countries — led by the US, the UK and France — prompted China to allow the international body to designate Azhar a global terrorist
- During the bilateral meets with nations, India mounted intense pressure and asserted that Azhar is a global terror threat
NEW DELHI: After consistently defending its “all-weather friend” Pakistan over the issue of designating JeM chief Masood Azhar a “global terrorist” for years, China on Thursday finally relented in a massive “diplomatic win” for India.
The low tolerance for global terrorism coupled with intense international pressure mounted on Beijing were some of the reasons which made China to not obstruct the listing of Azhar on this occasion. Here is a look at some of the main reasons behind China’s decision
* The US, along with France and the UK, turned the heat on China in the UN security council, threatening to discuss Azhar in a forum that would isolate Beijing publicly and force it to state the reasons for opposing the ban.
The pendulum swung India’s way as its deepening strategic ties with France and the UK paid off. The advent of the Trump administration, for all its nitpicking with New Delhi over trade issues, has seen an unrelenting pursuit of a zero-tolerance terrorism policy. Eventually, it was Washington that took a hard line against Beijing.
* During the bilateral meets with nations, India mounted intense pressure and asserted that Azhar is a global terror threat and hence, should be on the UN list of designated terrorists.
* The lack of criticism of the retaliatory airstrikes by India on terrorist camp in Pakistan’s Balakot following the Pulwama attack indicated that the tolerance for global terrorism is low.
* India’s threat to take the Azhar issue to open discussion in UNSC, also prompted China to yield as it could have isolated China publicly.
* On Thursday, China said that it agreed to allow the UN Security Council to declare Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist” only after it was satisfied with the “revised evidence” made available to it. It was referring to the exhaustive report showing Azhar as a terrorist which was provided by foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale during his recent visit to Beijing between April 25 and 27.
Under the UN sanctions committee decision, Azhar is accused of “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities” carried out by JeM. As a result of the blacklisting, he will be subject to a worldwide assets freeze, a travel ban and arms embargo.
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