BEIJING – A Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesperson Wednesday rejected aclaim that China was given a deadline to withdraw its ‘technical hold’ itput to further discuss the listing issue at United Nations SecurityCouncil’s 1267 Committee and said the listing issue should be resolvedthrough cooperation and consensus.“I don’t know where you get such information. The UNSC and it’s subsidiarybody like the 1267 Committee has clear rules of procedure and you need toseek a clarification from the sources where you get such information,” LuKang said during his regular briefing while responding to a question thatChina had been given a deadline of April 23 to lift the technical hold fromthe 1267 Committee.The spokesperson said that his country’s position was very clear.
“This issue should be resolved through cooperation and we don’t believethat any effort without the consensus of most members will achieve asatisfying result.”Responding to a report that the US would bring a resolution in the UNSC andbypass the 1267 Committee, he said that China’s stance on the listing ofMasood Azhar remained unchanged.
He observed that there were clear procedures and regulations regarding theUNSC and it’s subsidiary bodies to resolve such an issue.“We also, stay in communication with the relevant parties. And the matteris moving towards the direction of the settlement,” he added.
Lu Kang made it clear that China would oppose any resolution if it would bemoved in the UNSC by bypassing the 1267 Committee.“As to what you said that relevant parties are forcing a new resolutionthrough the UNSC, we firmly oppose that,” he said.
He explained that in fact, in the relevant discussions at the UNSC, mostmembers expressed the hope that this issue would be discussed within theframework of the 1267 Committee and no country would bypass the 1267committee to handle the issue.
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“We hope that the relevant countries can respect the opinion of mostmembers of the UNSC to act in a cooperative manner to help this issue to beproperly resolved within the framework of 1267,” he added.To another question about the timeline, he said as to the specificationsfor the discussion in the 1267 committee, there were clear procedures andregulation regarding the UNSC and its subsidiary bodies, adding, “We think,the members should follow and abide by procedures and rules.”While commenting on similar question early this month, a Chinese foreignministry’s spokesperson had said that the US was setting a bad example byforcing a draft resolution on the listing issue at the UN Security Counciland cautioned that it would only complicate the issue and it was also notconducive to the peace and security in South Asia.
To the haste shown by the US on the listing issue and bypassing the setprocedure to benefit India’s ruling party in the general elections being inthat country, he had replied that the US behavior was not in consistentwith the rules and procedures of the UN Security Council and its customsand practices.Former Chief Minister of Indian occupied Kashmir in a statement had alsoaccused that the incumbent Indian prime minister was playing up the allegedinvolvement of Masood Azhar in the Pulwama attack for the political gainsin the elections.
