Events & Issues
New Delhi, 13 December 2010
China’s Double Standards
BLOCKED UN SANCTION
ON PAK
By Col. (Dr.) P.
K. Vasudeva (Retd.)
The Chinese Prime Minster Wen Jiabao’s ongoing visit to India is undoubtedly slated to allay New Delhi’s concerns about various vexatious issues
including the boundary disputes, Kashmir
issue, trade deficit et al. Alongside, 45 business deals worth over $20 billion
are set to be signed. However, notwithstanding the ‘bonhomie’ the moot point is:
Can New Delhi count on Beijing
to push its case in various international forums, specially the UN.
Unlikely. Recall, in April last Foreign Minister S M Krishna
sought China's support for the convention against terrorism proposed by India
at the UN, and said all nations should join hands to thwart the evil designs of
terrorists. Speaking at an Institute
of Sino-Indian ties, Krishna asserted,
“India
has come out with a proposal for a comprehensive legislation or a convention in
the UN to face terrorism as a universal thereat and every country should
cooperate with each other in order to thwart the evil designs of terror and
terrorists. Adding, “As the threats had become multi-dimensional and it had
become necessary to step up the fight against the menace under the aegis of the
United Nations.”
But unknown to Krishna, was the fact China is fully supporting Pakistan sponsored terrorism in India. A fact which
has now come to light, thanks to the WikiLeaks. According to a leaked secret US
State Department cable of December 2009 signed by US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, Beijing at the apparent request of Islamabad, put a "technical hold" on New Delhi’s request to
the UN Security Council to slap sanctions on three terrorists.
As China in its capacity as a Permanent Member of the UN
Security Council has the veto power and nothing can be approved by this
15-member high-powered body of the UN without the consent of all the five
Permanent Members.
As matters stand, “Pakistan
has sought to block the UNSCR 1267 listings of Pakistan-based or affiliated
terrorists by requesting that China
place holds on the nominations. Beijing recently placed a technical hold on the
designation of three Pakistan-based or affiliated terrorists nominated by
India, although China did not prevent the most recent Pakistan-related US
designation nomination in June," states the secret State Department cable,
which primarily deals with the issue of terrorist financing.
But, Washington which has charged WikiLeaks of indulging in
a criminal act by stealing and releasing these cables has for reasons best
known to it neither confirmed nor denied the authenticity of these documents.
According to US officials, every cable coming out of the
Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department is signed by the Secretary of
State as a matter of routine, and this should not interpreted as a personal
statement of Clinton; but as an official direction from the State Department to
its posts overseas.
However, as the WikiLeaks documents reveal, China has been
blocking Indian efforts to designate certain Pakistan-based terrorist outfits
at the United Nations. Officials say that both New Delhi
and Washington
have been regularly raising this issue with Chinese officials, and have been
successful some times, but not always.
This particular Clinton
cable further confirms the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI's) continued links
with terrorists’ outfits. "Pakistan's
intermittent support to terrorist groups and militant organizations threatens
to undermine regional security and endanger US national security objectives in Afghanistan and Pakistan," the cable says.
“Although Pakistani senior officials have publicly disavowed
support for these groups, some officials from the Pakistan's ISI Directorate continue
to maintain ties with a wide array of extremist organizations, in particular
Taliban, LeT and other extremist
organizations,” it discloses.
This is not all. “These extremist organizations continue to
find refuge in Pakistan and
exploit Pakistan's
extensive network of charities, NGOs and madrassas.
This network of social service institutions readily provides extremist
organizations with recruits, funding and infrastructure for planning new
attacks,” it adds.
Importantly, in the talking points for meetings with the Pakistani
leadership, the State Department asked its officials to take up with their
Pakistani counterparts Islamabad’s failure to
implement the UNSC resolutions against terrorists’ outfits, in particular those
directed against India
and those involved in the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
Further as divulged by WikiLeaks the US Administration made
plain “Islamabad’s obligation, under UNSCR 1267, and successor resolutions to
strictly enforce existing sanctions against the 142 Taliban, LeT leader Hafiz Saeed, LeT/JUD, al Rashid Trust, al Akhtar Trust and other individuals and entities
on the UN 1267 Consolidated List.. Along-with supporting the international
community's efforts to combat terrorist financing. Your Government's views of
UNSCR 1267 listing should be made on the merits of the requests and not linked
to politics, including which country made the nomination or which countries are
referenced in the public statements of the cases.”
Not only that. The US extolled that social services, by NGO
extremist organizations, such as Jamaat-ud
Dawa challenged the legitimacy of the Pakistan Government. This included
relief efforts in the Internally Displaced Person camps of the Northwest
Frontier Provinces by the new LeT/JUD
charity Falah-e Insaniyat Foundation.
The Secretary of State reportedly also urged Islamabad, “in
the strongest possible terms” to take action against the Haqqani network, which is funnelling weapons and fighters across
the border to fight US and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan. It elaborated
Sirajuddin Haqqani network wherein it funds its activities through illicit
activities, including kidnapping, extortion, bank robbery, narcotics,
smuggling, and fraud.
Urging Pakistan to replace the anti-money laundering decree
recently promulgated by Islamabad’s Executive Branch, Washington asserted that
the legislation should be fully consistent with the Financial Action Task Force
(FATF) Recommendations and ensure that the decree could stand in court. The
FATF Forty Plus Nine Recommendations are international standards, which
Pakistan, by virtue of its membership in the Asia-Pacific Group, committed to.
In the ultimate, the WikiLeaks should act as an eye opener
to India and it should now be careful about Beijing’s belligerent attitude
towards New Delhi. Clearly, India can neither depend on China nor should it have
any faith in Beijing’s double standards at various diplomatic levels. New Delhi
must remain prepared to thwart an adventuring Beijing. ---- INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
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