India’s foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale is expected to bring up the key issue of Jaish-e – Mohammed (JeM) terrorist Masood Azhar in his talks with China.
Both the countries grapple with a host of issues, including Beijing’s continuous attempts to block efforts to list Jaish-e-Mohammed’s chief Masood Azhar as a ‘global terrorist’.
Gokhale will be going for a two-day visit to China on Sunday during which he will hold talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
According to reports, the foreign secretary will be holding a series of meetings with China’s State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and and vice foreign president Kong Xuanyou on Monday.
The Indian Embassy in Beijing on Saturday said that Gokhale will be visiting China for regular consultations.
However, Gokhale is visiting China days ahead of the second Belt and Road Forum, which India will skip because of concerns over territorial sovereignty related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
China will host the Belt and Road Forum (BRF) to showcase its trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in which the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a flagship project.
India has protested to China over the CPEC as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
China had for the fourth time put on hold a proposal at the United Nations to designate Jaish-e- Muhammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.
After the horrific incident of Pulwama terror attack that occurred in February, the move of China has greatly disappointed the Indian government and they strongly protested against it.
The Ministry of External Affairs said, “We are disappointed by this outcome. This has prevented action by the international community to designate the leader of Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM), a proscribed and active terrorist organization which has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February 2019.”