A collage of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the beating retreat at Wagah border
After US President Donald Trump's repeated claims of negotiating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, China has now come forward staking their claim in 'mediating' the conflict between the two south Asian nations following Operation Sindoor in May this year.
Addressing a symposium on the International Situation and China’s Foreign Relations in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday said “tensions between India and Pakistan” were among the list of hotspot issues “mediated” by China this year.
New Delhi has been maintaining that the May 7-10 conflict between India and Pakistan was resolved through direct talks between the DGMOs (Director General of Military Operations) of the armies of the two countries.
At the May 13 press briefing, the Ministry of External Affairs had said, “regarding ceasefire and what sort of role other countries played, etc. See, the specific date, time and wording of the understanding was worked out between the DGMOs of the two countries at their phone call on 10th May 2025, commencing at 15:35 hours.”
India has also been consistently maintaining that there is no place for any third-party intervention in matters relating to India and Pakistan.
"This year, local wars and cross-border conflicts flared up more often than at any time since the end of WWII. Geopolitical turbulence continued to spread”, Wang said
“To build peace that lasts, we have taken an objective and just stance, and focused on addressing both symptoms and root causes”, he added.
“Following this Chinese approach to settling hotspot issues, we mediated in northern Myanmar, the Iranian nuclear issue, the tensions between Pakistan and India, the issues between Palestine and Israel, and the recent conflict between Cambodia and Thailand”, he said.
China's role in the May 7-10 Operation Sindoor conflict between India and Pakistan this year came under serious scrutiny and criticism, especially the military assistance provided by Beijing to Islamabad.
On the diplomatic front, China, on May 7, called on India and Pakistan to exercise restraint even while expressing regret over India’s airstrikes.
“China finds India’s military operation early this morning regrettable”, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement on the first day of Operation Sindoor, reacting to questions on India’s airstrikes and escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.
“China opposes all forms of terrorism”, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said in an apparent reference to the Pahalgam terrorist attack and urged both sides to exercise restraint in the interest of peace.
But China’s active military support to Pakistan during the operation Sindoor in May has become a sharp reminder about the negative impact of China-Pakistan close ties on Beijing’s relations with New Delhi.
For its part, China, whose arms exports amount to over 81 per cent of Pakistan’s military hardware, sought to downplay India’s Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Rahul R Singh’s assertion that Beijing used the conflict as a “live lab”, declining to directly answer his charge.
With PTI inputs.