China hails Pakistan's efforts on countering terrorism, terms India's concerns 'inappropriate' for BRICS

Beijing: China on Thursday said India’s concerns over terrorism emanating from Pakistan will not be discussed at the BRICS Summit next week. Like in earlier occasions, China defended its “iron friend” Pakistan, hailing its efforts in countering terrorism. Foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Islamabad was at the “forefront” of counter-terror efforts and had made “sacrifices” for the cause. “The international community should recognise the contributions and sacrifices made by Pakistan,” Hua said at a press briefing. “We notice that India, when it comes to Pakistan’s counter-terrorism, has some concerns. I don’t think this is an appropriate topic to be discussed at BRICS Summit,” she said The three-day annual meet of the five-member grouping (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will begin at the Chinese city Xiamen from Sunday. [caption id=“attachment_3993399” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Narendra Modi at the BRICS meet at G20 Summit in Hamburg. PTI[/caption] “China is willing to work with Pakistan and other countries to enhance our cooperation in counter-terrorism. This serves the common interest of all parties.” Terrorism emanating from Pakistan is one the contentious issues between India and China. Beijing has repeatedly blocked New Delhi’s resolution at the UN to declare Pakistan’s terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as an international terrorist. In 2016, at the BRICS Summit in India, China did not back India’s attempts to have names of terror groups like JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) included in the BRICS declaration.