China and US at loggerheads over bid to designate Masood Azhar as terrorist by the UN, Beijing responds to Washington's 'all available resources' effort

Days after China blocked the move to shelter JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammad) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist in the United Nations, it hit out at the US on Wednesday for 'complicating the issue' and 'not be conducive to peace and stability in South Asia'.

China's response came after a recent accusation by the United States (US) that it (China) is protecting the terror groups from sanctions.

The US threatened to use “all available resources” to designate Azhar.

On March 27, the US circulated a draft resolution to the powerful 15-nation United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to blacklist the Pakistan-based JeM chief, proposing to subject him to a travel ban along with an assets freeze and an arms embargo. This came after China put a hold on a France-led proposal to list Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Council.

Geng Shuang, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said in a media briefing that China is adopting a constructive and rational stand on the matter to resolve it effectively.

"The US itself had put most technical holds in the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Security Council, thus sheltering more terrorists", he said criticizing the US.

China’s criticism of the US, France and the United Kingdom for moving a draft resolution at the UNSC was responded to by the US State Department which called it 'setting a bad example' and 'not a constructive move'.

READ | China Defends Its Position, Maintains A Concrete Stand On Blocking JeM Chief Masood Azhar's UN Listing

On April 2, the US had said that it will use all of its resources to ensure that the Jaish-e-Mohammad founder was held accountable.

A day later, Shuang said that the vast majority of the UNSC members believe that efforts should be made under the 1267 Sanctions Committee to solve this designation through dialogue and consultation instead of pushing the draft resolution at the UNSC.

He said that the US is setting a bad precedent as its action is not consistent with the UN rules and that it is not conducive to peace and stability in South Asia.

“China will continue to adopt a constructive and responsible attitude to participate in discussions and deliberations on the designation issue and we hope it is resolved properly”, Geng added.

(With PTI inputs)