Says SCO summit is not a place to target any certain country,
Islamabad (Pakistan Point News – 10th June, 2019) China has warned that Pakistan should not be targeted on terrorism at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit this week.
China on Monday said that the SCO summit is not a place to target any certain country, in an apparent reference to the possibility of PM Modi taking up the issue of Islamabad harbouring terrorists.
During his first overseas visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka, PM Modi attacked Pakistan saying that the state sponsorship of terrorism is the biggest threat the world is facing today.
Modi is likely to raise the issue at this week's summit, as part of India's strategy to isolate Pakistan at multilateral forums but China made clear its ally, Islamabad, should not be targeted at the event.
"In every summit, the institutional building of the SCO will be discussed that would involve economic cooperation and security cooperation particularly on counter-terrorism," China's Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Hanhui said.
"Security and development are two major issues of focus for the SCO. The establishment of the SCO is not to target any certain country but the summit of this level will certainly pay attention to major international relation and regional issues," Zhang said in an indirect reference to Pakistan while replying to a question if multilateralism would be the at the fulcrum of the discussion at the event.
Modi will meet Xi on the sidelines of the summit, where he will not meet Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, citing Islamabad funding anti-India terrorists.
China has long shielded Pakistan on terrorism, saying the South Asian nation itself is the victim of the menace and done a tremendous job in wiping out terrorists. This frustrates India and one of the sore points in its ties with China.
