Srinagar: China on Friday welcomed Pakistan’s decision to “express kindness” and hand over a captured Indian pilot after four straight days of cross-LoC attacks in Kashmir.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said during a regular news briefing on Friday that “the alleviation of tensions between the two countries serves their fundamental interests,” Associated Press reported.

Pakistan said it shot down two Indian warplanes and captured a pilot on Wednesday.

A close Pakistani ally, China has blocked India’s attempts to have the UN list as a terrorist the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan-based group that claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing on Indian paramilitary earlier in February in south Kashmir’s Pulwama.

This post was published on March 1, 2019