China today rejected India's assertion that moves at the UN to list JeM leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist were blocked due to narrow political considerations, saying it acted in a "candid way" over the issue based on rules and procedures.
China has been consistently blocking moves by India, the US, the UK and France to designate Azhar as a global terrorist by the 1267 Sanctions Committee by putting technical holds.
India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin during an open debate yesterday in the Security Council criticised some UN members for failing to "clearly understand" the common threat of terrorism.
"It is noticed that on an issue as serious as designation of terrorist individuals and entities, the Council-mandated Sanctions Committees fail to make concrete progress and fall victim to narrow political and strategic concerns in some cases," he said.
Responding to Akbaruddin's remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing that on Azhar's issue China had "acted in a candid way with ease".
"So what we do is nothing to do with the narrow minded political considerations as you mentioned," Hua said.
The issue of China blocking the listing of Azhar at the UN is expected to come up in tomorrow's 20th round of India- China border talks in New Delhi.