China withdraws request for Security Council briefing on Kashmir

United Nations: China has withdrawn a request for a Security Council briefing on Kashmir but its envoy claimed that “discussions” on a letter from Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi about the situation there was continuing among the members.

Before a meeting of the Council on Tuesday afternoon, a non-permanent European member’s diplomat confirmed that China had withdrawn the request for the briefing.

He said the matter of the withdrawal was between China’s Permanent Representative Zhang Jun and US Permanent Representative Kelly Craft, the Council’s president for the month.

Kelly probably had a role in steering Beijing away from the talk of consultations.

Zhang’s mention of “discussions” refers to unstructured conversations outside even the informal consultations mechanism of the Council for which no records are made. The claim of “discussions” was possibly made as a facesaving gesture after taking back the proposal for consultations on Kashmir, which found no takers.

Zhang told reporters, “We all know that the Security Council has received a letter from the Foreign Minister of Pakistan. There have been Security Council discussions, and discussions are going on there.” Asked by a reporter why the request for the consultation was taken back, he said, “I am not in a position to say anything more.”

His media briefing focused on a resolution that Russia and China intend to introduce on North Korea asking for some of the sanctions with a humanitarian impact to be lifted and Washington and Pyongyang restart their dialogue.

If China had gone ahead with the request for the Kashmir consultations, it would have preceded an expected visit to India by Foreign Minister Wang Yi this month for talks with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on the border issue. (IANS)

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