China calls for regional anti-terror push after TRF tagged by US

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian

China on Friday, in a measured response to the US designating The Resistance Front—a Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba proxy—as a foreign terrorist organisation over its role in the Pahalgam attack, has urged regional countries to strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation to ensure regional stability and security

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a media briefing when asked about the US State Department’s statement designating TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation,"China firmly opposes all forms of terrorism and strongly condemns the terrorist attack that occurred on April 22.”

“China calls on regional countries to enhance counterterrorism cooperation and jointly maintain regional security and stability,” he said.In a statement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier said the Department of State is designating the TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).

The US move to designate The Resistance Front (TRF) as a foreign terrorist organisation was anticipated to reverberate within the UN Security Council, particularly in the 1267 Sanctions Committee, which plays a key role in targeting global terror networks. This committee has already sanctioned several Pakistan-based groups such as Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), along with prominent leaders like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar, subjecting them to asset freezes, travel bans, and arms embargoes.

Following the Pahalgam terror attack, the UN Security Council issued a strong condemnation on April 25. However, mentions of TRF and its links to LeT were reportedly omitted from the statement due to objections raised by Pakistan and China.

Highlighting the importance of the US designation of TRF as a terrorist group, Pakistan’s daily Dawn said in its report that Thursday’s statement from the State Department seemed to echo India’s viewpoint, which has claimed that the little-known newly-formed group was actually a “front and proxy” of the banned LeT.Twenty-six people were killed in the April 22 attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir.

The TRF claimed responsibility for the attack, but later backtracked as tensions soared between India and Pakistan.India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the Pahalgam attack.India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missiles.