China thwarts global anti-terrorism efforts by repeatedly shielding Pakistan based terrorists as China-Pakistan nexus extends

China has again thwarted the international efforts to counter terrorism as it blocked the US-India proposal for the third time in last three months at the United Nations to blacklist one of India’s most wanted Pakistan-based top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Sajid Mir who was involved in the ghastly Mumbai terrorist attack in 2008 as well as in terror attacks in the US and Denmark.

Observers who understand the working of the UN said that China is misusing its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC) to put a hold on the listing of Pakistan based terrorists on the UN Security Council’s Al Qaida and ISIL (Daesh) Sanctions Committee’s (also known as the UNSC 1267 Committee).

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Monday could not give any reason for this blocking by China, nor could she say anything on whether this proposal violated any rule or procedure of the 1267 committee of the UN Security Council under which Mir was proposed to be declared as a global terrorist and subject to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. All she could say was “China always takes part in the work of the 1267 committee of the UN Security Council in strict accordance with these rules and procedures.” China, an all-weather friend of Pakistan, has repeatedly given this excuse to put holds on listings to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorists under the sanctions committee of the UN Security Council.

“My sense is that it is about the China-Pakistan relationship. The Chinese are worried that Pakistani’s may be bending more towards United States and therefore want to show their support to Pakistan, said Raffaello Pantucci, Senior Fellow, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) and Senior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in United Kingdom hinting towards a clear China-Pakistan nexus which is playing around with the regional security with an aim to keep Pakistan away from the US. Pakistan is dependent on China in almost every aspect from military to economy. However, recently Pakistan Army Chief said that country needs to balance its relations with the US.

Not only this ignorance of India’s security concerns and issues related to terrorism, but China has also been ignoring India’s territorial integrity by continuing its China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, a territory illegally occupied by Pakistan.

Pakistani authorities had in the past claimed Mir had died, but Western countries remained unconvinced and demanded proof of his death. This issue became a major sticking point in FATF’s assessment of Pakistan’s progress on the action plan late last year. In June this year, Mir was jailed for over 15 years in a terror-financing case by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan, which is struggling to exit the grey list of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Pantucci said that probably it is also connected with the state of the India-China relationship. “They (Chinese) have oscillated on these things usually in tune with how things are going with the relationship with India,” he said about China politicizing this issue. India and China have been engaged in a bitter border stand-off for past more than two years and the process of disengagement between both the troops remains painstakingly slow.

Beijing put a hold on Thursday on the proposal moved by the US and co-designated by India to blacklist Mir, the day when Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other SCO leaders gathered in Samarkand for 22nd SCO Summit and discussed issue of terrorism in the region.

Asked whether there is any timeline for it to remove its technical hold on Mir’s listing, Mao said: “China’s actions at the committee are consistent with the relevant rules and procedures”. “In the future, China will continue to take part in the work in a constructive and responsible manner,” she said.

Last month, Beijing defended its move to block the US and India’s proposal at the UN to blacklist Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) deputy chief Abdul Rauf Azhar, the brother of Jaish-e Mohammed (JEM) chief Masood Azhar and a senior leader of Jaish, saying it needs more time to assess the application. In June this year, China put a hold, at the last moment, on a joint proposal by India and the US to list Pakistan-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki under the 1267 Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council. Makki is a US-designated terrorist and brother-in-law of Lashkar-e-Taiba head and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

The US State Department had said that Mir has been a senior member of LeT since approximately 2001. He is on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List. From 2006 to 2011, Mir was in charge of LeT’s external operations and planned and directed various terrorist attacks on behalf of the group. Additionally, Mir allegedly conspired to commit a terrorist attack against a newspaper and its employees in Denmark between 2008 and 2009. For his role in the Mumbai attack, Mir was indicted in the United States in April 2011. In August 2012, the US Department of the Treasury designated Mir as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.