BEIJING, Jan 9: China does not see itself in the role of peacemaker in the ongoing dispute between its two neighbours India and Pakistan, a ranking foreign ministry official said on Wednesday.

China can mainly help bring about stability in the South Asia region through moral persuasion, trying to convince the two rivals to step down from the brink, said Fu Ying, director-general of the ministry’s Asian Affairs department.

“In the end, I think it’s up to India and Pakistan,” she said at a briefing in Beijing. “A role can be played by China together with the whole international community to persuade the two sides to exercise control.”

Fu said China’s reluctance to get involved in the South Asian dispute had long roots in Chinese diplomatic history.

“I doubt whether we will play a role in disputes between other countries,” she said.

“Our standing position for the past 50 years is we do not get involved in the disputes among other countries.

Even so, when tensions between India and Pakistan last erupted in 1999, amid a military standoff in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, China appeared to be a factor.

Within just a few days of each other in June of that year, the foreign ministers of both India and Pakistan paid visits to Beijing.

Fu Ying was speaking as Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji prepares to visit South Asia from January 11 to 18.

Fu Ying said that Prime Minister Zhu, who met Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf last week, would not be carrying a specific message to India.

“As to whether there are any messages to be passed, I should say that the message is we hope that they will reduce the tension through peaceful negotiations,” Sun said at a regular briefing. —AFP