China advises India, Pak not to allow terror disrupt their economic ties

Beijing, Feb 23: A lot has been said about China's role in backing Pakistan even on the question of harbouring terrorism and the latest suicide attack in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir was another such instance. Since Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror outfit claimed responsibility for the attack that killed over 40 CRPF jawans and China has repeatedly stalled the United Nations from designating its chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, Beijing too came under strong criticism in India.

China though later condemned the terror attack but it stuck to its old stand on Azhar. Now, the country's media has come up saying that the two South Asian neighbours should avoid engaging in a trade war that will hurt both the economies as well as China.

It may be noted here that India withdrew the Most Favoured Nation status that it had granted Pakistan in the mid-1990s following the Pulwama attack. Pakistan too vowed to retaliate by banning imports of some Indian products and the new low in the two neighbours' relationship saw their trade taking a toll.

"Tensions between India and Pakistan skyrocketed after Pakistan was reported to be considering a ban on the imports of some Indian products, as a protest against India's earlier move to withdraw most favored nation status given to Pakistan," China's Global Times said in a report.

Terror attack doesn't justify India's move to punish ordinary Pakistani people, says Chinese media

The report also said that the Pulwama attack by a Pakistan-based terror outfit doesn't justify India's decision to "punish ordinary Pakistani people with economic measures". It also advised Pakistan against opting for countermeasures against India.

Stressing that cross-border cooperation could counter terrorism, the Global Times report said both Indian and Pakistani economies will feel the pain of a trade war if the two sides escalated their economic tensions more.

"China is an onlooker of the ongoing India-Pakistan conflict, and it regrets the two countries' economic losses, which could have been avoided. However, China is not just an onlooker but a participant in the South Asian economy.

As an important economic partner of both India and Pakistan, China is willing to make efforts to promote India-Pakistan economic cooperation," the report said.

China itself is in the middle of a fierce trade war with the US which has left the glocal economy nervous.