China is in touch with India, Pakistan & promoting peace talks, says foreign ministry spokesperson

China has said that it is in touch with both India and Pakistan regarding recent tensions.

Replying to a question at the daily foreign ministry briefing, Chinese foreign ministry's spokesperson Lu Kang said, "China has been in close communication with both sides and promoting peace talks. China will continue playing its constructive roles in this regard as long as it is conducive to an alleviation of the situation and regional peace and stability."

Lu Kang added, "We genuinely hope that India and Pakistan, as important countries in South Asia, will maintain good neighbourliness and friendly ties and settle issues through friendly consultation."

The development comes after Pakistani foreign ministry claimed that that Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov had proposed to mediate between India and Pakistan.

The Indian ambassador to Russia Bala Venkatesh Varma has clarified saying there is no Russian offer of mediation between India and Pakistan and even if Moscow proposes one, New Delhi will not accept it.

"I want to emphasize that we did not receive a formal offer of mediation. And even we do, we will not accept it. So far, no country has offered to mediate in resolving the conflict," Venkatesh Varma said.

All through last week China called on India and Pakistan to exercise restraint but did not mention the issue of terror emanating from Pakistan like US, UK, France, Australia did.

India's external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj was in China on February 27 for the Russia, India, China foreign ministers meet. During the meet, EAM highlighted the issue of terror from Pakistan and said, "India does not wish to see a further escalation of the situation. "

The Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also spoke to Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on February 28 in which the Chinese side said it "will continue to play a constructive role in easing the current tension."

China has been blocking the listing of Masood Azhar, the chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), as an international terrorist under the United Nations security council 1267 committee.  Jaish-e-Mohammed is the group responsible for the Pulwama terror attack that killed more than 40 CRPF personnel. 

France, US and UK have again proposed the listing of Azhar as an international terrorist and if no country raises any issue by March 13, Azhar will be put on the UN terror list.

(With agency inputs)