China's support for Pakistan not against India: Chinese academic

He said that if China did not support Pakistan at a time when extremism and terrorism were rising, the region would have to face serious problems

China's support to Pakistan, Beijing's all-weather friend, is not designed to be against India, a prominent Chinese academic said in New Delhi on Friday.

Speaking at the first ever "India-China Think-Tanks Forum: Towards a Closer India-Pakistan Developmental Forum", Ye Hailin said that China's support to Pakistan was because of the growth of extremism and terrorism in that South Asian nation.

Ye, Chief Editor of South Asia Studies at the National Institute of International Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that if China did not support Pakistan at a time when extremism and terrorism were rising, the region would have to face serious problems.

He made it clear that China's ties should not be seen as designed against India.

The India-China Think-Tanks Forum was set up through a memorandum of understanding signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China in May last year.