China expresses readiness to work with India on terrorism after stalling proposal on Masood Azhar

Kolkata: Even as China once again stalled the move to designate JeM’s Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN, Chinese consul-general in Kolkata Ma Zhanwu on Friday said his country was ready to work with India and all other nations to fight terrorism. “China’s stand remains unchanged against all forms of terrorism. We support international cooperation on counter-terrorism. China stands ready to work with India and all other countries to fight terrorism,” Zhanwu told reporters. [caption id=“attachment_3895247” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Asked as to why did China block the proposal to designate Azhar as a global terrorist if it was so committed to fighting terrorism, Zhanwu said, “Regarding this specific question, I think there are some technicalities involved and I have not followed the technical developments.” Zhanwu’s comments come a day after China again extended by three months its technical hold on the US, France and UK-backed proposal to designate Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN. In February, China had similarly blocked the US move to designate Azhar, the Pathankot terror attack mastermind. A veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, China has repeatedly blocked India’s move to put a ban on the JeM leader under the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Council. JeM is already on the banned list.