Analysis | Pakistan-based terrorist’s UN blacklisting offers hope for India-China relations

Beijing had opposed the international sanctioning of Jaish-e-Mohammad head Masood Azhar numerous times over the past decade
But its reversal this week amid international pressure has removed ‘suspicion’ in New Delhi over its intentions, observers say

China-India relations

Deepu Sebastian Edmond

Published: 11:00am, 3 May 2019

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Beijing’s decision to accept the international blacklisting of a Pakistan-based terrorist after a decade of opposition has given Sino-Indian ties a boost, according to observers.

Masood Azhar, founder of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group that claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Kashmir on February 14 which killed 40 Indian soldiers, was added to the United Nations Security Council’s Islamic State and al-Qaeda sanctions blacklist on Wednesday. He will now be subject to a travel ban, freeze on his assets and an arms embargo.

Activists burn images of Jaish-e-Mohammad leader Masood Azhar in Ahmadabad on May 2. Photo: AP

Alka Acharya, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Centre for East Asian Studies, said India had “every reason to celebrate” the decision.

“I think it has removed a major hurdle – a suspicion – in Indian circles about Chinese intentions in its fight against terrorism,” she said.

China, a permanent member of the Security Council, blocked the assembly’s move to sanction Azhar in 2016 and 2017. India first proposed the sanctions in 2009.

Why China dropped its opposition to blacklisting of Pakistan-based terror chief

The United States, France and Britain put forward the proposal again in March. China vetoed that motion, but placed a “technical hold” on the decision, citing the need for more time for a “comprehensive and thorough assessment”.

It lifted the hold after India’s Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale visited China last week and shared evidence of the terrorist activities of JeM and Azhar while also raising the issue of banning the group at the UN with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

There was also a change of wording to the proposal that avoided angering China’s long-standing ally Pakistan.

India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale, left, meets his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing on April 22. Photo: AFP

“The relationship between India and China is a complicated, multifaceted one that involves a mix of issues. There are issues where they work together and issues on which they disagree,” said Ananth Krishnan, visiting fellow at Brookings India and former China correspondent for India Today magazine.

Although he added that “it is difficult to imagine that the events of Wednesday would have taken place pre-Wuhan”, in reference to an informal summit between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping that was held in China’s Hubei province in April last year following a tense border stand-off between the two countries in 2017.

India has worked to project Azhar’s blacklisting as a collaborative effort, with Syed Akbaruddin, India’s permanent representative to the UN saying on Twitter, “big, small, all join together …. Grateful to all for their support.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on the other hand, painted the “long-awaited action” as “a victory for American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism” in a statement posted on his official Twitter account.

This could be a sign that the US will expect something in return, according to Srikanth Kondapalli, honorary fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies in New Delhi. “The Americans will now want India to agree with them on Iran,” he said.

Acharya, of the Centre for East Asian Studies, said that although China was probably pressured into acting by the US, Beijing’s decision was a “fairly thought out and calibrated step”.

China and India look to cooperate despite belt and road disagreements

“The Indian side has possibly made some assurances. The Chinese have also removed the [Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridor] from the belt and road framework,” she said, referring to a slow-moving project that Beijing had wanted to include in its Belt and Road Initiative, but which New Delhi opposed.

Another positive takeaway from Beijing’s decision to lift its objection to Azhar’s sanctions blacklisting is the possibility that India can now bring up any problems it has with Pakistan in the conversations it has with China, according to Acharya.

“We didn’t have any toehold there [before]. This might just be able to open up a dialogue where both sides can talk about Pakistan,” she said.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Relations with Beijing to warm after terror decision

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