China warns member countries not to politicise FATF – Newspaper

BEIJING: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) forum should not be politicized by countries to follow its agenda, a senior official from China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

“China does not want the FATF to be politicized by any particular country. There are some countries that want to include Pakistan on the blacklist. They have political designs against which China is against, ”said Deputy Director General Yao Wen of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China.

Speaking to a group of Pakistani journalists, Yao said China blocked attempts to include Pakistan on the blacklist. “We make it clear to the United States and India that we cannot do it. It goes beyond the purpose of the FATF, ”he added.

Read: Progress made to remove Pakistan from the gray list

He said the FATF was intended to support a country to take measures against terrorist financing. "Pakistan was effectively implementing its National Action Plan and China encouraged it to act against terrorists and strengthen its system."

Official says some countries want Pakistan to be blacklisted

Yao said that instead of pressuring Pakistan, FATF member countries should help Pakistan improve its system.

In addition to China, Turkey and Malaysia also supported Pakistan at the FATF meeting in October.

The FATF is a global control body for money laundering and terrorist financing. On October 18, he granted Pakistan a four-month lifeline and strongly urged Pakistan to complete its action plan by February 2020 and until then the country will remain on the "gray list," according to a Dawn newspaper report.

The Paris-based FATF reviewed the measures taken and the progress made by almost 15 countries, including Pakistan, against money laundering and terrorist financing (AML / CFT) in its five-day plenary session, which concluded on the 18th October. added the report.

China, India

Mr. Yao welcomed the establishment of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority by Pakistan and said it would help accelerate work on CPEC projects.

On the recent visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to India amid Kashmir tensions, Yao said that relations between China and Pakistan were mature enough to handle such visits. "The mutual trust between China and Pakistan is very high, while we have a confidence deficit with India, since we have so many problems and differences [with them]"He added.

He said Mr. Xi conveyed Pakistan's concerns to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about Kashmir.

"India was told that Pakistan did not want war and wanted to solve the Kashmir problem by peaceful means," he added.

Yao said that China had a clear position that Kashmir is a disputed territory and that the problem must be resolved in accordance with the resolutions of the Charter of the United Nations and the Security Council.

"China did not support the unilateral action taken by India [on Aug 5]. China is willing to play a constructive role for the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir problem, ”he said. He said that China and Pakistan had strong cooperation in the defense sector.

Posted on Dawn, October 29, 2019