Topics Covered: India and its neighbourhood- relations.
China, Pakistan to back each other’s ‘core interests’ at UN:
Context:
China and Pakistan have pledged to back each other’s “core and major interests” in the United Nations after holding bilateral consultations on UN affairs.
- Beijing will back the Kashmir issue at the UN Security Council and Islamabad will back China on Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
Concern for India:
China- Pakistan describe their relationship officially as one of “all-weather partners” and “iron brothers”. They have in recent months stepped in to provide crucial support to the other on issues they see as sensitive.
- This development comes amid heightened Chinese criticism of what it calls United States-led “selective multilateralism”, aimed particularly at the India, U.S., Australia and Japan Quadrilateral framework, as well as the “rules-based order” advocated by the Quad.
- China in 2019 and 2020 raised the Kashmir issue at the UNSC on at least three occasions, calling for discussions in the wake of India’s dilution of Article 370, reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir and revocation of special status.
Sources: the Hindu.