ISLAMABAD: A week after Pakistan announced its decision to not attend regional security dialogue on Afghanistan to be hosted by India, China too has backed out on Tuesday citing ‘scheduling reasons’.
“Due to scheduling reasons, it is inconvenient for China to attend the meeting. We have already given our reply to the Indian side,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during his regular briefing while responding to a question about whether China has declined to attend the dialogue.
Last month, India invited Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, and all the central Asian nations to attend the ‘Delhi Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan’, scheduled to be held on November 10.
Pakistan’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Moeed Yusuf has already announced that he would not attend the upcoming moot on the Afghanistan issue hosted by India.
“I will not go, a spoiler can’t be a peacemaker,” Yusuf said in response to a question by a reporter about whether Pakistan will be attending.