The US and China seem headed for a showdown at the UN over Jaish chief Masood Azhar with Beijing accusing Washington of "forcefully moving" a resolution in the Security Council intended to compel China to make public its reasons for stalling efforts to tag him as a "global terrorist".With Beijing persisting with a "technical hold", preventing the sanctions committee of the UNSC from designating the Jaish-e-Muhammed chief as a terrorist, Washington has sought to raise the heat by seeking a discussion in the council - inviting a sharp Chinese retort that it should act with caution.Acting with the support of France and the UK, the US bumped up the issue of listing Azhar on Wednesday.The move came two weeks after China, for the fourth time, put a hold on a proposal to list him under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the council.Never before has a terrorist of interest to India been targeted at the council in this manner. The other 14 members of the council are said to be supporting the proposed ban.Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said in Beijing that the US was undermining the authority of the sanctions committee . "This is not in line with resolution of the issue through dialogue and negotiations. This has reduced the authority of the committee as a main anti-terrorism body of the UNSC and this is not conducive to the solidarity and only complicates the issue," Geng said."We urge the US to act cautiously and avoid forcefully moving forward this resolution draft," China said, using unusually blunt language as the Trump administration made good its expressed intent to take the JeM chief's issue to the UNSC since the sanctions committee had been repeatedly thwarted.Adding to the friction was US secretary of state Mike Pompeo calling out the contradiction of China's forcible detention of Uighur Muslims while supporting terror groups like JeM. "The world cannot afford China's shameful hypocrisy toward Muslims. On one hand, China abuses more than a million Muslims at home, but on the other, it protects violent Islamic terrorist groups from sanctions at the UN," Pompeo said.The US resolve in pushing China reflects a determination to press down on Pakistan in the wake of the JeM claiming responsibility for the suicide bombing in Pulwama despite its efforts to withdraw from Afghanistan, a strategy that is seen to require the cooperation of Pakistan. Its cruciality to US plans is seen as a factor that emboldens the Pakistan military to "sanction" a big attack in J&K.The US move means that China, if it doesn't lift the "technical hold", will likely have to explain publicly for the first time the rationale behind its support to the leader of a UN-designated terrorist group. It is understood that the next step for the council is to have informal discussions on the resolution.Though China as a permanent member can veto the draft resolution in the UNSC, the development further isolates Beijing at a time when the international community is running out of patience with Pakistan's sponsorship of terrorism and China's decision to shield it. JeM's claim for the Pulwama attack only deepened the unease. Proceedings of the sanctions committee were in camera but a UNSC vote, if it comes to that, will be on record.The US-China clash over Azhar came against the backdrop of Pompeo meeting a delegation of Uighur Muslims, tens of thousands of whom are said to have been corralled in internment camps as Beijing tries to staunch what it sees as Islamic radicalism.If the council fails to arrive at a consensus, then it could consider putting the resolution to vote, leading to an open discussion. The US, France and the UK, which have worked together to bring the proposal, will hope in such a scenario that China, fearing isolation, abstains to allow the ban to go through.