Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui Sunday exuded confidence of resolving the sticky issue of designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist through consultations, days after China blocked a fresh move at the UN to ban the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief.
"I am quite sure this matter (listing of Azhar by the UN) will be resolved. This is only a technical hold and the matter can be resolved through continued consultation," Luo said on the sidelines of an event at the Chinese embassy.
The envoy said China understands India's concerns on the issue, and was optimistic of resolving it. "We are optimistic that this matter will be resolved."
The envoy was replying to questions on China putting a hold on Wednesday to a fresh move to designate Azhar as a global terrorist by the Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.
It was the fourth time China blocked listing of Azhar in the past 10 years. The Chinese move was termed as "disappointing" by India.
The Chinese envoy also referred to the informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in April last year and said the cooperation between the two countries are on the "right" and "fast" track.
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"We are quite optimistic about the future cooperation between the two countries," Luo said.
Government sources Saturday said India would show patience with China for "as long as it takes" on the Azhar issue, but it will not compromise its position on firmly dealing with terrorists.
They said India will continue to pursue China to support listing of Azhar whose JeM carried out a number of terror attacks in India including the Pulwama strike.
They said India was "cautiously" confident that eventually Azhar will get listed as it has a solid case against the JeM chief.
Fourteen out of the 15 members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) supported India on the proposal to list Azhar as global terrorist but China was the only country which did not go with the move.
The fresh proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council was moved by France, the UK and the US, in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
The government sources said terrorism was an issue which is not-negotiable for India and if China needed more time, New Delhi was ready to wait.
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