By Gaurav Sharma

Beijing, Jan 8 (IANS): China on Monday told the US that pointing fingers at Pakistan will not help in fighting terrorism.

Rebuffing a US suggestion that China should convince Pakistan to crack down on terror, Beijing said it would not be "conducive" to link terrorism with its "all-weather" Islamabad.

"As we stressed many times, Pakistan has made important sacrifices and contributions to the global anti-terrorism cause and countries should strengthen anti-terrorism cooperation on the basis of common mutual respect instead of finger-pointing at each other," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said.

"This is not conducive to the global counter-terrorism efforts," Lu told the media.

Last week, a US official said China could be helpful in persuading Pakistan to dismantle safe haven for terrorists.

"China always opposes linking terrorism with any certain country and we don't agree to place the responsibility of anti-terrorism on a certain country," Lu said.

"Actually, China is defending the countries that have been making anti-terrorism efforts in a just and fair way. China also welcomes all the global joint efforts in terms of counter-terrorism on the basis of mutual trust and respect."

China defends its "iron-brother" Pakistan on the issue of terrorism. Beijing says Islamabad has made sacrifices and done a fabulous job in fighting terrorism.

China was quick to jump to Pakistan's defence when US President tweeted that his administration was stopping all aid to Islamabad for not using the money to flush out terrorists.

Days after Trump's announcement, Washington cut security aid to Islamabad. China has invested heavily in Pakistan.

The over $ 50-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor - a key artery of Beijing's Belt and Road project -- connects China's Kashgar with Pakistan Gwadar.

It goes through the disputed Kashmir held by Islamabad and claimed by New Delhi.