Better ties with China possible: India

India on Thursday said it had not struck a deal with China to make it let the United Nations Security Council sanction Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar. New Delhi noted that Beijing's decision to lift its 'technical hold' at the UNSC from the proposal to sanction the JeM chief would help improve India-China ties.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to visit India later this year. He will hold an 'informal summit' with the prime minister of India in New Delhi. This is going to be the second in the series. The first was between Modi and Xi at Wuhan held in central China in April 2018 which thawed the Sino-Indian ties which had turned cold post Doklam issue in June-August 2017.

Beijing's policy of shielding terrorists based in Pakistan from UNSC sanctions had continued to be an irritant in India's relations with China. Sources in New Delhi on Thursday said that India would now ask China to stand aside and let the UNSC ban other terrorists based in Pakistan. Beijing had earlier blocked New Delhi's moves to impose UN sanctions on Lashkar-e-Tayyiba commander Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin – both based in Pakistan.

“We do not negotiate with any country on terrorism and on matters related to the security of the country. China has already given its explanation on why the hold has been lifted,” Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said in New Delhi. He was responding to a question if India had agreed on a quid pro quo with China.

His counterpart in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Chinese Government, Geng Shuang, said in Beijing that China had lifted the 'technical hold' on the process to sanction Azhar after the US, UK and France revised the proposal they had earlier moved to impose curbs on the JeM chief.