China says India's Operation Sindoor 'regrettable'; Turkey condemns strikes, Russia, France express concern

Asked about India's assertion that it targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK, Lin said the international community is following closely what is going on between India and Pakistan.

Beijing: China on Wednesday termed India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’ in Pakistan as well as in areas under illegal occupation of Pakistan as ‘regrettable’, while Russia expressed concern over the heightened military tensions between the two South Asian nations.

As New Delhi launched a military operation targeting the terrorist camps across the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK), as well as across the undisputed stretch of the border between the two nations, Türkiye called it a provocative step and condemned targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.

“France is deeply concerned about the latest developments between India and Pakistan. It calls for de-escalation and the protection of civilians,” Paris conveyed to New Delhi and Islamabad.

Iran also expressed concern over the escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan. Abbas Araqchi, the foreign minister of the Persian Gulf nation, arrived in New Delhi late on Wednesday. He will have a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and call on President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday. He had visited Islamabad earlier this week. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier called the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif, in an attempt to diffuse tension between the two South Asian nations.

“China finds India’s military operation early this morning regrettable,” Lin Jian, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the communist country’s government, said in Beijing. “We are concerned about the ongoing situation. India and Pakistan are and will always be each other’s neighbours. They’re both China’s neighbours as well.”

Beijing had on April 27 reaffirmed its support to Islamabad “in safeguarding its sovereignty and security interests”, even as tension had escalated between India and Pakistan after the April 22 killing of 26 people in Jammu and Kashmir. China had also stated that a conflict would not be in the fundamental interests of India and Pakistan.

“China opposes all forms of terrorism. We urge both sides to act in the larger interest of peace and stability, remain calm, exercise restraint and refrain from taking actions that may further complicate the situation,” Lin told journalists on Wednesday.

“We are deeply concerned by the heightened military tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of a terror attack near the town of Pahalgam,” Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Government, said. "Russia resolutely condemns acts of terrorism as it opposes any manifestations of it and accentuates the need to join forces globally for an effective fight against this evil."

Moscow called on India and Pakistan to exercise restraint in order to prevent the situation in the region from escalating. “We hope that the latest dispute between New Delhi and Islamabad will be resolved through peaceful political and diplomatic means on a bilateral basis in accordance with the provisions of the 1972 Simla Agreement and the 1999 Lahore Declaration,” she concluded.

“We are following the developments between Pakistan and India with concern. The attack carried out by India last night (6 May) raises the risk of an all-out war. We condemn such provocative steps as well as attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Türkiye said.