‘Visible Progress’: At FATF Meet, China Again Supports Pakistan Over Terror Financing

China has once again come out in support of Pakistan over the issue related to terrorism. At a key meeting of the international terror financing watchdog in Beijing, China on Thursday said that Pakistan has made “visible progress” to strengthen its counter terrorism financing system, which should be encouraged by the world community.

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Asia Pacific Joint Group met in Beijing this week to scrutinise Pakistan’s progress report to adopt stricter laws against terror financing and money laundering. China is the President of the FATF and co-chair for Asia Pacific Joint Group.

A Pakistani delegation led by Minister for Economic Affairs Division Hammad Azhar is in Beijing to brief the financial task force about the steps taken by Islamabad to implement the recommendations made by the FATF.

"As FATF president and co-chair for Asia Pacific Joint Group, China will continue to uphold an objective, just and constructive attitude and participate in relevant discussions," he said.

The FATF in October last decided to keep Pakistan on its 'Grey' list for failure to curb funnelling of funds to terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and others. If not removed off the list by April, Pakistan may move to a blacklist of countries that face severe economic sanctions, such as Iran.

(With PTI Inputs)