Ready to help you in easing out border tension with India: China tells Pak in ‘urgent’ late night call

Amid tension between India and Pakistan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday made an ‘urgent’ late-night call to his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi and said that Beijing is ready to help in easing out the current border tension in Indian Subcontinent. Wang said that he hoped China “could continue to play a constructive role in easing the current tensions." The Chinese Foreign Ministry in the statement added that “China does not want to see the acts that violate the norms of international relations.”

The statement comes after China’s trilateral talks with India and Russia, which was attended by Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj in Wuzhen. In the meeting, Swaraj raised Pulwama terror attack issue. She had said that the Pulwama terror attack is a grim reminder that there should be zero tolerance against terrorism and ‘decisive action’ is need of the hour. The meeting gained significance in the backdrop of the Indian Air Force’s air strike in Pakistan’s Balakot, in which major terror camp run by the Jaish-e-Mohammed was completely destroyed.

Swaraj extensively spoke about the surprise mission and said that, “It wasn't a military op, no military installation targeted. Objective was to act against terrorist infrastructure of JeM to pre-empt another terror attack in India. India doesn't wish to see further escalation of situation. It'll continue to act with responsibility and restraint.”

“In the light of continuing refusal of Pak to acknowledge and act against terror groups on its territory and based on credible info that JeM was planning other attacks in parts of India, Government of India decided to take pre-emptive action and target was selected in order to avoid civilian casualties,” Swaraj added.

Hitting out at Islamabad over non-action against terror groups operating on its soil, Swaraj said that, “Following the Pulwama terrorist attack instead of taking seriously the calls by international community to act against Jaish-e-Mohammed and other terror groups based in Pakistan, it denied any knowledge of the attack and outrightly dismissed claims by Jaish-e-Mohammed.”