India hit out at China on Wednesday for demanding “solid evidence” for securing a United Nations ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, saying the extent of his actions were “well-documented” and the “burden of proof” was not on the country.
Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, briefing the media on his interactions with top Chinese officials, said the talks were “useful” in conveying India’s concerns and priorities on key issues.
“On the issue of 1267 Committee’s sanctions on Masood Azhar, we once again explained the rationale for that application and pointed out that this was really pursued by other countries too, not India alone,” Mr. Jaishankar said. He was referring to the U.S. application this year, backed by the U.K. and France, to designate Azhar as a global terrorist.
“In the case of Azhar, Jaish itself is proscribed under 1267. So the proof is in [the] 1267 Committee action. In this case, what he has done, the extent of his actions, are well-documented.
‘Sponsors convinced’
“Also, the proposal in question this time is not moved by us. It is not that the burden of proof is on India. The sponsors seem to be very well convinced... otherwise they would not have taken the initiative to move the proposal,” he said.
“On the NSG issue,” he said, “the Chinese side underlined that they were open to India’s application for membership. They have their view of the procedures and processes. These are different from where we are at the moment and most of the group is at the moment,” he said, referring to the wide support India’s application enjoyed in the 48-member grouping.
‘Azhar’s actions are well-documented’
The talks included counter-terrorism issues, which reportedly covered efforts to get the JeM chief banned by the U.N. as well as Afghanistan, besides bilateral and counsellor issues.“Overall, I felt my visit was certainly useful in conveying to the Chinese side our concerns and priorities and gaining from them an appreciation and their understanding of the world situation and in what manner we could work together,” Mr. Jaishankar said.
Besides holding talks with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi on Tuesday, the Foreign Secretary met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday morning before co-chairing the strategic dialogue with Executive Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui. This is the first time China has fielded an executive Vice-Minister who is also the head of the Foreign Ministry unit of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Mr. Jaishankar said he highlighted India’s concerns about the widening trade deficit, which last year amounted to over $46 billion.
“We conveyed our concern to [the] Chinese side. It was agreed that the Joint Economic Group headed by Commerce Ministers will meet early to discuss this,” he said. “The Chinese side has taken some measures, but clearly these have not addressed the problem in a substantive way,” Mr. Jaishankar said, referring to Beijing’s promise that it would remove trade barriers for India’s IT and pharmaceutical sectors.
