Why does China keep blocking the names India suggests for listing under UNSC’s list of terrorists?
The HinduThe story so far: On Wednesday, China placed a “hold” on two joint India-US proposals, to designate Lashkar-e-Taiba top leaders including Talha Saeed, son of Hafiz Saeed and Shahid Mehmood, deputy chief of an LeT front at the United Nations Security Council’s 1267 list of terrorists affiliated to Al Qaeda and ISIS. Even after the Parliament attack and the Mumbai 26/11 attacks, China kept placing a hold on the UNSC terror listing proposals for him: in 2009, 2010, 2016-18, claiming it had “inadequate information” on Masood Azhar’s terror activities. When asked by The Hindu in August this year for a reason for the persistent “holds” on India’s requests for various terror listings, Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong said they needed “some time to study these specific cases, but that doesn’t mean China has changed its position on counter-terrorism cooperation efforts.” In addition, it is possible that China objects to the listing proposals being brought by a group of countries, especially the joint proposals by India and the U.S. rather than by India alone, but has never given any comprehensive reason for the holds. At the UNSC meet in August, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ruchira Khamboj had called for an end to the practice of placing holds and blocks on listing requests “without giving any justification”.