China acknowledges Pakistan’s efforts against terror financing

Chinese Government finally expressed its support to Pakistan’s anti-terror financing regime on Tuesday, saying that in recent years, Pakistan has made important progress in actively strengthening financial regulations to combat terror financing.

China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang recognized Pakistan’s counterterrorism efforts at a press briefing in Beijing, days after it withdrew opposition against a US-led move to place Pakistan on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) watchlist.
The 37-nation FATF held its plenary meeting in Paris last week where it placed Pakistan on a so-called ‘grey list’ of the countries where terrorist outfits are still allowed to raise funds.
The plenary held its first meeting on Pakistan on February 20 where China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which was representing the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), opposed the move to place Pakistan on the watchlist. But the US pushed for an unprecedented second discussion on Pakistan, held on February 22, where Saudi ditched Pakistan compelling China to stay away from a failed support.
Lu reiterated that China has been calling on the international community to evaluate Pakistan’s efforts against militancy “in an objective and fair way, instead of just pointing fingers at Pakistan out of bias”.
“As an all-weather strategic cooperative partner for Pakistan, China will continue to enhance communication, coordination and cooperation with Pakistan on counterterrorism,” he said.