France vetoes China’s proposal to convene UNSC meet on Kashmir
18 Dec 2019
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Tuesday turned down a proposal by China to convene a meeting on Kashmir amidst strong opposition from key members of the Security Council.
China quietly withdrew its request for a discussion on Kashmir which was earlier scheduled for Tuesday, reports citing Indian government sources as saying. “India is not a member of the UN Security Council, so we are not in the room,” the sources added.
“Kashmir will not be discussed in the security council today. Our position has been very clear: Kashmir issue has to be treated bilaterally. We have highlighted this several times recently, including in New York, ANI quoted French diplomatic sources as saying.
It was reported that China called for the meeting after Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in a letter to the Security Council on 12 December, expressed concern over a possible further escalation of tension between New Delhi and Islamabad after India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5.
The UNSC had met on Kashmir in August, the first such meeting in decades after India revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status. China, in the meeting, had strongly criticised the move to reorganise Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories.
This comes ahead of the 22nd round of boundary talks between India and China that is expected to take place in a few days.
China and Pakistan have repeatedly criticised India on the global platform Jammu and Kashmir's special status was revoked, instead of taking care of the vulnerable condition of the minorities, facing the constant threat of persecution on their own soil.
The United Nations, as well as the entire international community, has condemned China's crackdown on the Uighur Muslims in the north-western province of Xinjiang and the extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances of Balochs, Ahmadiyya, and other minority communities by the Pakistani establishment.
The thwarting of China’s plans comes amidst fresh attempts by Pakistan to raise protests in India over the Citizenship Amendment Act.
India and China are scheduled to hold what promises to be an important round of bilateral boundary talks this weekend between national security adviser and special representative Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart state counsellor Wang Yi.