I feel like India is playing China not the other way around.
Now we all know that P5 can literally do what ever they want. No body can question them. Now, we also know that with great power comes great responsibility.
Now every P5 have their own satellites to protect. For ex. India is satellite of Russia. Israel is satellite of America. If UN decides to question India or Israel, Russia and US would VETO it. Sure that would come with a cost, but yes no matter what....Russia would protect India.
We need a classic example of misusing the power. Yes, every P5 does that and everyone in the UN knows that. But, we want everyone to realize and say "China! you had enough". It is like depositing your hard earned money as savings for future. We are making world to observe that China is misusing it's power. We shall encash it when the time is ripe.
Now why would I come to this conclusion.
What would happen if Masood is designed?
Nothing would have happened, Saeed is still roaming on the road, giving rallies. Nothing would happen to Masood as well. In Pak, people might have gone crazy.... rallies against UN might have started. A bit more action on LoC. But nothing major, in fact his popularity might have gone up.
What is the big deal with Masood Azhar? Yes, he is a Terrorist, radicalise people and send them across border to fight in Kashmir or plant bombs.
He is not the only one. Pak did this prior to Masood and won't stop after his death. This is for certain.
When we started this process, Pak wanted to protect him, the best way is to veto it from China. Yes, for once they had an agreement. It was on to hold. For China it is easy, China also got something in return. India failed, Victory for China, Victory for Pak. India did attempt again with the help of other P5 countries... India started to gain support softly, China put it on hold, an embarrassment for other countries too. Victory for China, Victory for Pak. This happened.one more time too. In the last attempt almost every country from security council group was with India and China rejected it. But there is the difference, China knows that it started to irritate others. Now everyone knows that China is protecting Terrorists. World also knows that China is feeling kind of heat from India. We are labeling ourselves as enemy to China. Yes, this has it's positives. Japan investment in Bullet train is just an example. Though lot had happened for Bullet train but I am sure that Masood Incident is also played it's role.
So raising Masood issue helped us, while tarnishing Chinese image. Sure this helps in improving our say in G4, NSG and maybe for considering UNSC too. Yes it is far-fetched, but you also need to build a case as strong contender. And one way to do that is have a strong enemy and make him look like he is scared of us.
If I am not wrong, then Masood or similar issue(with Pak or China; China goes against India in both cases) for clashing will come up in UNSC.
This just my speculation only....pls let me know if I miss interpreted the whole picture of Masood.
Sun Tzu: Sometimes we need to loose the small battles in order to win the war.