At a time when it is engaged in a tense border standoff with India, China has once again come out in support of Pakistan over the issue of terrorism. Beijing said Islamabad has made ‘tremendous sacrifice’ in fighting terrorism, a fact that the wold community should respect.

“Terrorism is a common challenge faced by all countries. Pakistan has made tremendous efforts and sacrifice in fighting terrorism,” news agency ANI quoted Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, as saying.

“The international community should recognise and respect that. China opposes all kinds of terrorism, he added.

China’s support for Pakistan came soon after India and the United States, in a joint statement, said that Pakistan needs to ensure that no territory under its control is used for terrorist activities. The statement was issued after the 17th meeting of the India-US Counter Terrorism Joint Working Group.

China’s statement comes in the backdrop of after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow on the sidelines of the SCO meeting.

India strongly raised the deployment of large number of troops and military equipment by China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and conveyed its concern.

“The Indian side clearly conveyed that it expected full adherence to all agreements on management of border areas and would not countenance any attempt to change the status quo unilaterally. It was also emphasized that the Indian troops had scrupulously followed all agreements and protocols pertaining to the management of the border areas,” news agency PTI quoted a source, as saying.

During the meeting, both the countries agreed on a five-point plan for resolving the ongoing border standoff.